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CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS. 


AND 


OTHER  SERMONS. 


JOHN  RHEY  THOMPSON  D.D. 

»! 

Of  the  New  York  Conference 


NEW  YORK:  HUNT  & EATON 
Cl  NCI NN A Tl:  CRANSTON  & STOWE 


Copyright,  1889,  by 
HUNT  & EATON, 
New  York. 


255- 

rm 


This  Booh 

IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 
TO  MY  KIND  AND  GENEROUS  FRIEND, 

Mr.  John  D.  Slayback, 

OF  NEW  YORK, 

WHO  SO  BEAUTIFULLY  ILLUSTRATES  IN  HIS  LIFE  AND 
CHARACTER  THE  CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS 
I SEEK  HEREIN  TO  COMMEND. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/christianmanline00thom_0 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Christian  Manliness — What  is  It? i 

Christian  Manliness— As  Tested  by  Poverty...  17 
Christian  Manliness — As  Put  to  the  Proof  in 

Public  Life 36 

Jesus  and  the  Great  Masters  of  Literature 53 

Great  Men  in  History 68 

Christian  Manliness  in  Trial 85 

The  Spiritual  Prophecies  of  Christian  Manli- 
ness   98 

The  Desire  for  Death 1 13 

The  Identification  of  Divinity  with  Humanity.  125 
Modern  Progress  an  Encouragement  to  Mis- 
sionary Zeal.  . 135 

The  Great  King  in  Disguise 149 

The  Prophetic  Vision  of  God 158 

The  Brave  Choice  of  Moses 173 

Significant  Omissions  in  the  Preaching  of  Jesus.  187 

The  Moral  Harvest 199 

The -Greatness  of  Jesus  214 

The  Call  of  Abraham 233 

Law  in  the  Spiritual  Realm 243 

The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality— 1 260 

The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality — II 276 

The  Christian  Heaven 289 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS— WHAT  IS  IT? 


Pilate  therefore  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  a king  then?  Jesus 
answered,  Thou  sayest  that  I am  a king.  To  this  end  was  I born, 
and  for  this  cause  came  I into  the  world,  that  I should  bear  wit- 
ness unto  the  truth.  Every  one  that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my 
voice. — John  xviii,  37. 

In  the  historical  drama  of  “ Julius  Caesar”  the 
two  principal  characters  among  the  conspirators  are 
Cassius  and  Brutus.  After  the  sudden  and  irrep- 
arable overthrow  of  their  perilous  fortunes  on  the 
fatal  field  of  Philippi,  they  both  took  their  own 
lives.  It  is  not  over  the  dead  body  of  the  design- 
ing and  envious  Cassius,  however,  but  over  that  of 
the  noble  and  patriotic,  albeit  misguided,  Brutus, 
that  Marc  Antony  speaks  the  well-known  lines  : 

“ This  was  the  noblest  Roman  of  them  all : 

All  the  conspirators  save  only  he 

Did  that  they  did  in  envy  of  great  Caesar  ; 

He  only  in  a general  honest  thought 

And  common  good  to  all  made  one  of  them. 

His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him  that  Nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world,  ‘ This  was  a man.’  ” 

Our  great  Shakespeare  here  finely  describes  the 
elements  of  the  manhood  of  Brutus.  He  was  true, 
patriotic,  unselfish,  magnanimous,  gentle — of  such 


2 


Christian  Manliness . 


rare  and  admirable  equipoise  that  Nature  might 
stand  up  and  say  to  all  the  world,  “ This  was  a 
man.”  The  outside,  apparent,  physical,  palpable 
victory  is  with  Marc  Antony  ; the  real,  inside,  invis- 
ible, moral  victory  is  with  Brutus.  Flushed  with 
success,  soon  to  become  the  master  of  the  whole 
world,  Antony  is  constrained  to  step  aside  and  pay 
high  tribute  to  the  glorious  virtues  of  his  dead  foe. 
One  had  better  be  Brutus,  dead  yonder  on  the 
Philippian  plain,  than  Marc  Antony,  alive  in  the 
arms  of  Cleopatra ! Death,  with  one’s  honor  and 
purity  untarnished,  is  better  than  life  stained  with 
dishonor  and  corrupted  by  lust — this  is  the  lesson 
of  history,  of  conscience,  of  philosophy,  of  religion. 

In  what  consists  manliness  ? That  manliness,  I 
mean,  which  enables  its  possessors  to  become  rulers, 
masters,  disposers  of  the  circumstances,  limitations, 
conditions,  forces,  fates  of  human  life.  It  is  clear  that 
it  is  not  in  any  thing  obese,  gross,  or  sensual,  in  any 
thing  purely  physical  or  animal;  it  does  not  reside 
in  bodily  strength  or  agility  or  endurance.  When 
Nelson  was  a boy  fourteen  years  of  age  he  attacked 
a polar  bear  with  a handspike,  and  when  he  was  re- 
proved for  it  by  his  captain  he  simply  stated  that 
he  had  never  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Fear. 
He  was  a mere  shadow  of  a man  ; he  could  not  have 
stood  before  the  Boston  “ slugger,”  Sullivan,  two 
minutes,  but  in  the  Bay  of  Aboukir  and  at  Trafalgar, 
under  the  solemn  inspiration  of  duty,  one  Nelson 
was  worth  a million  Sullivans.  The  prize-fighters, 
the  athletes,  the  victors  in  the  Grecian  games, 


What  is  It? 


3 


the  men  who  won  the  famous  laurel-leaf  crowns, 
the  rowers,  the  wrestlers,  all  the  men  who  have 
come  to  power  and  conspicuity  by  the  force  of  mere 
flesh  or  muscle  or  nerve — when  have  they  ever  re- 
kindled the  extinguished  torches  of  human  progress? 
When  have  they  carried  out  into  the  unknown  dark- 
ness the  new  light  ? When  have  they  been  the 
helpers  of  their  brother-men  ? When  have  they 
stood  in  the  solitary  outposts  of  liberty  to  herald 
the  coming  of  the  better  days  ? When  have  they 
refined,  elevated,  enriched  civilization  ? When  have 
they  controlled  destinies?  Yonder  is  the  great,  the 
gifted,  and  the  brilliant  Alcibiades,  fortunate  in  his 
birth,  in  his  family,  in  his  training,  in  his  beauty,  in 
his  grace,  in  his  eloquence,  and  come,  too,  at  a time 
when  Greece  needs  a great  man  ; but  he  is  gross, 
false,  sensual,  fickle,  corrupt,  and  he  but  precipitates 
the  ruin  of  the  land  he  might  have  saved.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  is  Baxter,  of  Kidderminster,  whose 
life,  as  it  is  described  by  one  of  his  biographers, 
was  one  continual  struggle  with  disease,  and  he  goes 
into  the  most  degraded  and  heathenish  parish  in  all 
England,  where  church-going  was  the  exception  and 
brutal  prize-fighting  was  the  rule,  and  in  a few  years 
the  conditions  were  precisely  reversed.  And  there 
is  William  of  Orange,  the  slight,  pale,  feeble,  wheez- 
ing, asthmatic  invalid,  with  all  the  contending  fac- 
tions of  English  politics  about  him,  with  the  great 
diplomatists  of  the  continent  of  Europe  eagerly 
planning  his  overthrow  ; but  he  holds  on  to  life  with 
an  eager  and  tenacious  grasp,  and  finally  forms  the 


4 


Christian  Manliness . 


mighty  coalition  that  broke  the  power  and  humbled 
the  pride  of  the  Grand  Monarque. 

Nor  is  Christian  manliness,  as  here  conceived,  to 
be  mistaken  for  the  brilliant  qualities,  the  high  ex- 
ecutive energy,  of  the  great  soldiers  of  the  world. 
If  so,  then  Alexander,  petulant,  cruel,  selfish,  in- 
temperate, lustful,  was  a manly  man  ; then  the  first 
Duke  of  Marlborough,  corroded  by  avarice,  the  slave 
of  passion,  the  tool  of  every  master,  was  a manly 
man ; then  Napoleon,  cold,  pitiless,  remorseless, 
with  an  utterly  unscrupulous  and  remorseless  am- 
bition, was  a manly  man. 

Our  manliness  is  to  be  distinguished  from  mere 
talents  or  taste  or  scholarship.  Erasmus  had  taste, 
talents,  scholarship;  he  was  a good  judge  of  a fine 
picture  ; he  was  the  best  Greek  scholar  of  his  time; 
he  could  have  edited  the  most  perfect  copy  of  the 
New  Testament ; he  loved  brilliant  society  ; but  it 
took  a man  made  of  sterner  stuff  to  defy  the  seem- 
ingly omnipresent  and  irresistible  power  of  the 
papacy.  It  took  a plain,  sturdy,  rugged  man,  like 
Martin  Luther,  who  knew  indeed  less  about  Greek, 
but  a great  deal  more  about  God. 

Success  is  not  manliness.  Robert  Walpole  was 
successful  in  governing  England  for  many  years, 
but  he  did  it  by  knowing  the  price  of  each  purchas- 
able member  of  Parliament.  He  ruled  England  for 
a generation,  but  his  letters  and  the  history  of  the 
period  reveal  that  the  secret  of  his  rule  is  to  be 
found  in  his  unerring  discernment  of  the  exact 
number  of  pounds  sterling  required  to  give  him  a 


What  is  It  ? 


5 


majority.  Greatness  of  character  is  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  intellectual  acuteness,  penetration,  or 
vigor.  One  may  be  the  founder  of  a new,  benevo- 
lent, and  world-revolutionizing  system  of  philoso- 
phy and  yet  be  deficient  in  manhood.  Bacon,  de- 
laying the  trial  of  causes  and  turning  an  itching 
palm  to  wealthy  suitors,  eager  for  the  bribe,  is  not 
a picture  of  a manly  man.  He  was,  indeed,  the 
“ greatest,  the  wisest,  and  the  meanest  of  mankind  ! ” 

Nor  is  genius,  however  splendid,  a substitute  for 
manhood.  The  world  owes  more  to  its  plain, 
sturdy,  plodding,  duty-loving  John  Howards,  Sam- 
uel Wilberforces,  George  Peabodys,  and  Henry 
Wilsons  than  to  all  its  fierce,  fitful,  lurid  Byrons  and 
Poes.  The  critics  may  be  right  when  they  say  that 
Shelley  had  naturally  larger,  finer,  richer  poetic  pow- 
ers than  our  Longfellow,  but  while  the  fame  of 
Shelley  is  narrowing,  dwarfing,  and  dying,  our 
poet  has  entered  on  a fresh,  green,  wide,  lasting 
fame. 

Manhood  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  mere 
passivity  of  moral  disposition.  The  goodness 
which  is  so  often  recommended  to  us,  dry,  jejune, 
tasteless,  insipid,  without  aggression,  without  force, 
without  spontaneity,  without  inspiration,  deficient 
in  courage,  in  -electric  force  and  contagiousness,  is 
not  the  goodness  which  graces  and  crowns  a strong 
and  noble  manhood.  I love  to  read  about  the  se- 
raphic Summerfield.  Doubtless  his  conversation  was 
in  heaven  ; but,  as  I read  the  history,  I am  re- 
minded that  it  took  the  steady,  sagacious,  persistent, 


6 


Christian  Manliness . 


iron-willed  Francis  Asbury  to  found  in  the  wilds  of 
this  New  World  that  Methodism  which  should  ulti- 
mately become  the  dominant  faith  of  the  American 
people.  Fletcher  of  Madeley  was  indeed  saintly  ; 
he,  if  any  man,  might  honestly  use  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist,  and  say,  “ Whom  have  I in  heaven  but 
thee?  and  whom  do  I desire  on  earth  besides 
thee  ? ” But  England  in  the  last  century  required 
a type  of  piety  more  rugged,  more  robust,  more 
aggressive,  and,  if  I may  say  it  without  mis- 
construction, a trifle  more  secular — the  kind  of 
piety  embodied  in  the  life  and  work  of  John 
Wesley.  Philip  Melanchthon  was  gentle  and 
sweet-spirited,  but  I have  always  doubted  whether 
he  would  have  publicly  burned  the  pope’s  bull, 
rejected  the  cardinal’s  hat,  and  have  stood  alone  in 
the  Diet  of  Worms  and  defied  all  the  forces  of  the 
empire. 

Christian  manliness  means  something  more  than 
to  be  complacent  and  amiable  ; something  more 
than  to  keep  ourselves  scrupulously  clean  from  the 
defiling  touch  of  evil.  This  manliness  carries  with 
it  the  willingness  to  declare  the  truth,  to  defend  the 
right,  to  suffer  and  to  die,  if  need  be,  for  the  right. 
Three  words,  if  they  do  not  entirely  describe,  are 
distinctly  included  in,  the  Christian  idea  of  manli- 
ness : courage,  dutifulness,  love.  Neither  of  these 
words  alone  would  give  an  adequate  conception  of 
the  ideal  manliness.  Courage  alone  will  not,  for 
courage  may  be,  and  doubtless  often  is,  the  result 
simply  of  physical  conditions,  of  abounding  animal 


What  is  It? 


7 


spirits.  Dutifulness  alone  will  not,  for  dutifulness 
may  be  hard,  ungracious,  rigid,  constrained,  and  not 
bright,  open,  genial,  spontaneous  in  expression. 
Love  alone  will  not,  for,  unless  tied  fast  to  a su- 
preme sense  of  duty  and  made  willing  to  face  with 
fortitude  pain,  sacrifice,  difficulties,  and  death,  there 
is  danger  that  love  will  evaporate  in  mere  sentiment. 
The  pilot  of  the  Mississippi  steamboat  had  Chris- 
tian manliness  when,  discovering  the  boat  to  be  on 
fire,  and  calculating  the  distance  to  the  shore,  he 
stood  at  the  wheel  until  he  beached  her,  and  then 
fell  a blackened  corpse.  He  had  the  three  qualities  ; 
courage,  dutifulness,  love.  He  was  no  scholar,  no 
genius : he  did  not  know  the  parts  of  speech ; he 
could  not  have  told  the  difference  between  a verb 
and  a noun  ; his  usual  manner  of  expressing  him- 
self was  slangy ; he  would  have  had  an  uncomfort- 
able time  in  a Fifth  Avenue  parlor — his  feet  and 
hands  would  have  been  very  much  in  the  way,  his 
face  would  have  been  red  and  fiery — but  in  the  dark- 
ness of  the  solemn  night,  as  the  fierce  breath  of  the 
flames  drew  ever  nearer,  the  voice  of  the  Eternal 
was  heard  by  him,  and  he  nobly  laid  down  his  life 
a sacrifice  for  others.  Twelve  or  thirteen  years  ago, 
on  the  coast  of  Scotland,  seven  boys  went  out  to  fish 
in  a small  boat,  when,  going  suddenly  to  one  side, 
it  upset,  and  they  found  themselves  struggling  with 
the  waves.  The  oldest  boy,  thirteen  years  of  age, 
Alexander  Sutherland,  alone  knew  how  to  swim, 
and  one  after  another  he  landed  five  of  his  compan- 
ions, and,  returning  for  the  sixth,  he  became  ex- 


8 


Christian  Manliness . 


hausted  and  sank  in  the  waves.  Here  is  courage, 
dutifulness,  love. 

“ He  dares  and  sinks  and  dies  alone, 

With  all  the  saved  in  view ; 

A Christ  among  the  fisher  lads, 

The  ransom  of  his  crew.’* 

You  have  heard  of  the  wreck  of  the  Birkenhead . 
The  very  highest  Christian  manliness  was  found  in 
the  men  who  constituted  the  passengers  of  that 
ship.  The  sea  below  them  was  full  of  sharks  ; there 
were  enough  boats  to  land  the  women  and  the  chil- 
dren. Captain  Wright  knew,  and  the  men  knew, 
that  the  ship  could  not  float  until  the  boats  came 
back,  and  he  ordered  them  on  deck  in  companies, 
and  told  them  to  stand  at  “ attention ; ” and  there 
they  stood,  never  uttering  a word,  until  the  ship 
keeled  over  and  they  all  went  down.  That  was 
manliness — courage,  dutifulness,  love. 

The  very  soul  of  manhood  is  expressed  by  the 
words  truth,  genuineness,  reality,  sincerity.  Analyze 
manhood  to  its  final  element,  and  what  we  all  mean 
by  it  is  that  a man  is  true,  genuine,  sincere,  real. 
How  do  you  find  it,  and  where  do  you  find  it? 
If  a man  is  a tradesman,  and  is  a manly  man,  there 
is  no  sand  in  his  sugar,  no  chicory  in  his  coffee,  no 
iron  filings  in  his  tea,  no  water  in  his  molasses,  nor 
does  he  make  his  marmalade  of  turnips  and  treacle. 
If  the  butcher  is  a manly  man,  he  sends  to  your 
house  the  piece  of  meat  you  bought,  and  not  the 
inferior  article  you  did  not  buy.  The  manly  man 
keeps  his  contract,  make  or  lose — yea,  he  swears  to 


What  is  It? 


9 


his  own  hurt  and  changes  not.  If  he  builds  you  a 
house  it  will  not  be  of  materials  as  cheap  as  can  pos- 
sibly hold  together,  so  that  after  it  has  settled  you 
can  neither  fasten  a window  nor  lock  a door  ! The 
houses  he  builds  are  built  to  last . The  manly  man 
does  not  put  all  the  big  strawberries  on  the  top,  and 
all  the  shrunken  ones  at  the  bottom  of  the  basket. 
If  he  sells  apples,  the  barrel  is  not  topped  off  with 
large  and  choice  fruit,  while  in  the  center  of  the 
barrel  they  are  only  fit  for  the  cider-press.  The 
manly  man,  if  he  is  an  exporter  of  wheat  to  foreign 
ports,  does  not  mix  enough  “ No.  3 Red”  with 
0 No.  2 Red  ” to  keep  it  within  the  latter  grade, 
and  at  the  same  time  have  the  advantage  of  the 
higher  price.  The  manly  man,  even  if  he  be  a 
preacher  in  an  interior  town,  will  not  sell  to  an 
ungodly  buyer  from  New  York  city  a lot  of  apples 
with  a large  pumpkin  in  the  center  of  each  barrel  to 
fill  up.  The  manly  man  does  not  sell  oleomarga- 
rine for  butter,  neither  does  he  manufacture  his 
“ best  California  honey  ” from  glucose.  The  manly 
man  is  one  who,  if  he  be  a large  coal  operator,  will 
not  sell  a barge  of  slate  for  the  best  Lehigh  coal ; 
nor  will  he  show  you  one  ticket  and  dexterously 
substitute  another  for  it  on  the  day  of  election.  If 
the  manly  man  is  a lawyer,  he  will  not  encourage 
litigation  that  he  may  have  a fee ; if  he  is  a broker 
on  the  Stock  Exchange,  he  will  not  invent  or  spread 
false  reports  in  order  that  he  may  further  his  own 
speculations  ; if  he  is  a physician,  he  will  not  assume 
an  attitude  of  owl-like  gravity  when  there  is  noth- 


10 


Christian  Manliness . 


ing  the  matter  with  the  child  ; if  he  is  a preacher, 
he  will  not  have  two  creeds,  one  to  work  with  before 
the  people  and  one  to  think  by  in  his  study;  if  a 
manly  man  is  in  society,  he  will  not  be  a retailer 
of  cowardly  slander.  The  manly  man,  wherever  he 
is  found,  is  a true  man,  a genuine  man,  a real  man, 
a man  who,  without  asking  time  to  hide  any  thing 
away,  can  open  his  heart’s  most  secret  chamber  to 
the  angels  of  God  any  hour  in  the  twenty-four 1 
This  is  the  kind  of  men  we  need  now.  Acute- 
ness of  moral  perception,  genuineness  of  moral  feel- 
ing, straightness  of  moral  purpose,  soundness  of 
moral  fiber  through  and  through — -in  these  and  like 
elements  does  manhood  inhere.  The  true  man  is  a 
man,  and  the  false  man  is  no  man  ; he  is  a two-legged 
snake  that  by  some  strange  freak  of  evolution  finds 
himself  in  an  erect  posture.  Wherever  there  is  in- 
sincerity, wherever  there  is  equivocation,  wherever 
there  is  evasion,  wherever  there  is  pretense,  wher- 
ever there  is  gross  sensuality,  wherever  there  is 
falseness  at  the  core  of  being — there  is  no  manhood  ; 
the  serpent  is  there,  the  panther  is  there,  the  tiger 
is  there,  the  leopard  is  there — the  man  is  still  an 
animal,  and  not  a man.  Manhood  includes  other 
gracious,  winsome,  and  attractive  qualities,  but 
these  constitute  its  life  and  soul.  Wherever  there 
is  ideal  manhood  there  will  be  loyalty,  magnanimity, 
generosity,  delicacy,  courtesy.  Our  great  President 
and  greater  man,  Abraham  Lincoln,  all  unconscious 
of  what  he  did,  defined  Christian  manliness  in  those 
great  and  ever-memorable  words : “ With  malice 


What  is  It? 


1 1 

toward  none,  and  with  charity  for  all,  let  us  strive 
to  do  the  right,  as  God  shall  give  us  to  see  the 
right.” 

This  Christian  manliness  we  describe  as  sovereign, 
as  ruling  over  all  the  elements  of  human  life,  as 
being  the  inspiration  at  last  of  all  its  progress,  and 
the  only  ground  of  hope  for  the  ages  to  come.  It 
is  so  because  the  moral  Ruler  of  men  intended  it 
to  be.  The  reason  and  ground  of  its  unique  and 
imperial  place  is  to  be  ascertained  in  its  origin  ; it 
is  the  will  of  God  that  it  should  be  so.  It  is  the 
child  of  a King.  Now  this  manliness  is  not  a mod- 
ern upstart  usurper  ; it  did  not  spring  up  in  a night 
like  a mushroom  ; it  was  not  born  yesterday.  Its 
rule  is  ancient,  legitimate,  rightful  ; it  is  a divinely 
appointed  sovereign.  It  is  not  a question  of  fam- 
ily ; you  need  not  look  into  any  genealogical  tables. 
You  will  waste  your  time  there.  The  extraction  of 
our  heroes  and  heroines  may  not  be  traced  in  any 
peerage  book.  The  men  and  women,  far  away  from 
the  world’s  eye,  who  hold  themselves  true  to  the 
simple  duty  known  to  them,  through  toilsome,  suf- 
fering, unrequited  years,  at  the  cost  of  all  those 
things  which  are  grateful  to  the  flesh,  who  shall  de- 
scribe them  ? They  are  fitly  described  in  the  superb 
language  of  Macaulay,  when  in  the  full  glow  of 
youthful  eloquence  he  writes  of  the  Puritans  of  the 
time  of  the  first  Charles  : “ If  they  are  unacquainted 
with  the  works  of  philosophers  and  poets,  they  are 
deeply  read  in  the  oracles  of  God.  If  their  names 

are  not  found  in  the  registers  of  heralds,  they  are 
2 


12 


Christian  Manliness . 


recorded  in  the  Book  of  Life.  If  their  steps  are 
not  accompanied  by  a splendid  train  of  menials,  le- 
gions of  ministering  angels  have  charge  over  them. 
Their  palaces  are  houses  not  made  with  hands, 
their  diadems  crowns  of  glory  that  shall  never  fade 
away.  On  the  rich  and  the  eloquent,  on  nobles  and 
priests,  they  look  down  with  contempt,  for  they 
esteem  themselves  rich  in  a more  precious  treasure 
and  eloquent  in  a more  sublime  language — nobles 
by  the  right  of  an  earlier  creation,  and  priests  by 
the  imposition  of  a mightier  hand.”  The  hero  of 
our  manliness  is  one  who,  in  any  great  crisis  of  his- 
tory, is  equal  to  the  hour  that  time  has  struck  in 
its  solemn  on-goings.  David  is  King  of  Israel,  not 
because  he  is  the  son  of  Jesse,  but  because  he  can 
command  the  people  and  unify  the  nation  in  a time 
of  separation,  weakness,  and  distress.  This  man- 
hood does  not  posture  itself  into  greatness  ; it  does 
not  smirk  itself  into  favor  ; it  does  not  wear  blazing 
jewels  to  show  its  rank  ; it  does  not  strike  theatrical 
attitudes  before  the  people  ; it  does  not  have  an 
oiled  curl  hanging  down  the  forehead  as  a proof  of 
eminent  statesmanship.  This  kind  of  manhood 
rules  by  other  than  artificial  and  meretricious 
badges,  distinctions,  and  signs.  It  has  a native,  in- 
trinsic, and  inviolable  majesty,  and  it  rules  because 
it  has  the  ethical  power  to  command  obedience.  I 
am  glad  that  there  are  such  gewgaws  and  baubles 
in  the  world  as  ivory  thrones  and  purple  robes  and 
golden  scepters.  There  are  some  people  whom  you 
would  never  suspect  of  being  kings  and  queens  if 


What  is  It  ? 


13 


they  were  not  seated  on  ivory  thrones,  if  purple 
robes  were  not  thrown  around  them,  if  golden  scep- 
ters were  not  in  their  hands.  Genuine  manhood, 
if  it  condescends  at  all  to  sit  on  thrones,  wear  pur- 
ple robes,  or  wield  scepters,  does  so  because  of  its 
power  to  dignify  these  things,  and  the  real  manhood 
requires  no  ermine  to  make  a judge,  no  gown  or 
surplice  to  make  a minister  of  Christ — it  requires 
nothing  but  the  sublime  instinct  of  faith  in  the  eter- 
nal God,  and  in  his  righteous  purpose  at  last  to 
bring  forth  to  the  view  of  all  men  the  clear  equities 
of  the  eternities  ! The  sovereignty  of  this  manhood 
is  universal.  It  reigns  every-where — in  the  church 
and  on  the  street,  in  the  academy  and  the  prison- 
house,  in  the  Senate  and  the  market,  in  the  Orient 
and  in  the  Occident ; it  is  superior  to  climate,  to 
the  aspects  of  nature,  to  rank,  to  genius,  to  talent, 
to  wealth,  to  poverty,  to  fame,  to  obscurity,  to  suf- 
fering, to  toil,  to  temptation,  and  triumphs  at  last 
over  death.  Wherever  there  is  a soul  that  meekly 
bows  itself  in  lowly  reverence  before  the  great  fact 
that  the  moral  law  is  the  supreme  law,  there  is  a soul 
on  its  way  to  eternal  power  and  growth. 

This  is  a strange  prisoner  here  before  Pilate  ! 
They  are  calling  him  a king  from  the  outside,  and 
the  perplexed,  bewildered,  time-serving  Pilate  says 
to  him  : “ Art  thou  then  a king?”  and  his  answer 
is:  “ To  this  end  was  I born,  and  for  this  cause 
came  I into  the  world,  that  I should  bear  witness 
unto  the  truth.”  Why  is  he  there  ? He  is  there 
because  he  bore  witness  to  the  truth,  and  for  no 


14 


Christian  Manliness . 


other  reason.  He  did  indeed  speak  the  truth,  and 
he  spoke  the  whole  truth,  and  he  spoke  nothing  but 
the  truth.  If  he  had  not  been  born  for  this  one 
purpose,  if  he  had  not  come  into  the  world  for  this 
single  end,  and  if  he  had  not  been  faithful  to  his 
trust,  he  might  not  have  stood  there  at  all.  If  he 
had  cheapened  the  truth,  if  he  had  lowered  its  im- 
perative demands,  if  he  had  clipped  off  the  sharp 
edges  of  the  truth  here  and  there,  if  he  had  deliv- 
ered such  truth  only  as  would  have  been  grateful  to 
the  Pharisees  or  to  the  people  or  to  the  Herodians, 
he  would  not  have  been  there.  The  people  might 
have  saved  him,  but  at  times  he  spoke  such  dis- 
tasteful truth  to  them  that  they  turned  away  from 
him  ; he  spoke  such  truth  to  the  Pharisees  that  they 
would  not  have  him  for  their  leader  ; as  he  justified 
John  the  Baptist,  Herod  would  have  no  pleasure  in 
him  ; he  refused  to  beg  for  his  life  at  the  hands  of 
Pilate,  and  so  he  cared  nothing  about  him.  He 
came  into  the  world  and  actually  zvas  the  truth ; 
that  is  the  simple  explanation,  humanly  speaking, 
of  his  marvelous  life.  He  spoke  the  entire  truth, 
kindly,  lovingly,  courageously,  directly  ; to  the  rich, 
to  the  poor,  to  the  virtuous,  to  the  unvirtuous,  to 
the  learned,  to  the  unversed,  to  those  in  power  and 
to  their  subjects,  and  to  all  of  them  it  was  ever  the 
same  message,  that  is,  the  simple,  brave  truth,  and 
nothing  else.  That  is  why  he  is  a prisoner  here  be- 
fore Pilate,  and  that  is  why  all  men  who  have  really 
followed  him  have  suffered,  because  they  spoke  the 
truth,  the  needed  truth,  the  simple  truth,  the  whole- 


JVhat  is  It? 


15 


some  truth.  Nevertheless  he  is,  after  all,  the  real 
King.  Pilate  ! he  has  gone  down  to  utter  infamy. 
The  Prisoner  ! he  is  the  King  of  more  brave,  true- 
hearted, loyal  souls  at  this  hour  than  any  Roman 
emperor  ever  numbered  subjects.  As  Napoleon 
said  at  St.  Helena,  “ There  are  more  men  at  this 
hour  who  would  die  for  Jesus  Christ  than  ever 
would  have  died  for  Julius  Caesar,  Charlemagne,  or 
myself.” 

“ Every  one  who  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my 
voice.”  Would  you  hear  that  voice?  Cast  out 
every  thing  that  corrupts,  that  weakens,  that  stains 
and  defiles  you,  and  you  will  hear  it.  Be  true,  and 
you  will  hear  it.  Be  true ; be  true  in  politics,  be  true 
in  the  store,  be  true  in  the  bank,  be  true  in  the  fam- 
ily, be  true  whatever,  be  true  wherever,  you  are,  and 
you  will  hear  His  voice.  “ Every  one  that  is  of  the 
truth  heareth  my  voice.”  Solemn  words,  these ! 
Look  on  this  truth  on  its  reverse  side:  “He  that 
heareth  not  my  voice,  it  is  because  the  truth  is  not 
in  him.”  If  the  shadow  of  a conscious  lie  lies  across 
your  soul;  if  you  are  meditating  flight  from  duty; 
if  you  are  .planning  one  single  escape  from  right- 
doing ; if  along  the  future  of  your  life  you  are  leav- 
ing here  and  there  an  open  door  for  falseness  and 
baseness;  if  you  would  meanly  undermine  a com- 
petitor; if  you  would  drive  a man  to  the  wall  in  the 
hour  of  weakness  ; if  you  are  planning  any  low  trick 
of  cunning — you  will  not  hear  his  voice,  no,  not  in 
this  world,  nor  yet  in  the  world  to  come.  But  if  the 
purpose  be  in  your  heart  humbly  to  do  right ; al- 


i6 


Christian  Manliness . 


ways  to  do  it;  lovingly  to  do  it;  to  be  just  and 
fear  not,  to  be  generous,  to  be  courageous,  to  dare 
at  all  times  to  be  simply  true,  above  all  other  voices 
you  will  hear  his  voice  in  the  holy  places  of  your 
soul.  Thus  hearing  him,  and  daily  perfecting  your 
obedience  to  him,  you  will  go  from  light  to  light, 
from  truth  to  truth,  from  strength  to  strength,  from 
grace  to  grace,  from  virtue  to  virtue,  from  glory  to 
glory,  until,  dropping  the  cerements  of  the  flesh, 
with  speed  swifter  than  light  you  will  rise  to  stand 
before  him,  and  your  life  shall  be  eternally  united 
to  his  life. 


As  Tested  by  Poverty. 


17 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS— AS  TESTED  BY 
POVERTY. 

Now  when  Jesus  saw  great  multitudes  about  him,  he  gave  com- 
mandment to  depart  unto  the  other  side.  And  a certain  scribe 
came,  and  said  unto  him,  Master,  I will  follow  thee  whithersoever 
thou  goest.  And  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  The  foxes  have  holes,  and 
the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests  ; but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where 
to  lay  his  head. — Matt,  viii,  18-20. 

This  incident  occurred  in  the  earlier  and  more 
popular  portion  of  the  Galilean  ministry  of  Jesus. 
He  had  indeed  been  rudely  and  savagely  rejected, 
and  his  life  attempted  by  his  fellow-townsmen  at 
Nazareth,  but  in  Capernaum,  which  from  henceforth 
became  his  head-quarters,  he  had  produced  an  im- 
mediate, deep,  and,  on  the  whole,  a favorable,  im- 
pression. In  fact,  he  so  profoundly  moved  the  peo- 
ple by  his  words  and  by  his  miracles  that  they 
were  frequently  on  the  verge  of  a great  uprising, 
threatening  to  make  him  a temporal  king.  This 
infectious  spirit  of  enthusiasm  in  the  ever-swelling 
crowd  was  at  times  so  remarkable  that  it  did  not 
afford  our  Lord  pause  even  for  rest,  solitude,  and 
prayer.  In  one  of  these  instances,  when  the  eager, 
mercurial, and  excited  crowd  thronged  about  him,  and 
he  sorely  needed  the  refreshment  of  soul  that  could 
only  come  from  solitude  and  communion  with  his 
Father,  and  he  was  about  to  cross  the  sea  with  his 


i8 


Christian  Manliness . 


disciples  in  a boat,  there  came  to  him  a certain 
scribe,  a man  learned  in  the  Jewish  law,  who  seems 
to  have  been  suddenly  taken  with  a fire  of  exuber- 
ant devotion,  and  he  said  unto  him,  “ Master,  I will 
follow  thee  whithersoever  thou  goest.”  It  may 
have  been  that  this  was  a transport  of  generous  and 
uncalculating  devotion,  it  may  have  been  a sudden 
impulse,  a mere  flame-jet  of  fierce  and  untried  zeal ; 
whatever  it  was,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  know 
what  was  the  real  nature  and  demands  of  the  serv- 
ice to  which  the  Master  would  lead  him,  and  Jesus 
therefore  declared  to  him  his  utter  poverty:  “The 
foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have 
nests  ; but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his 
head.”  Do  you  want  to  follow  such  a man  ? Are 
you  prepared  for  such  a service?  Are  you  equal 
to  such  a disciplesliip  ? 

As  men  estimate  power  and  influence,  these  words 
of  Jesus  must  have  seemed  very  foolish  and  short- 
sighted indeed.  “ Why,”  they  must  have  said  among 
themselves,  “ here  is  this  scribe,  versed  in  the  law, 
having  potential  connections — he  may  be  able  to 
give  a favorable  introduction  to  this  new  teacher 
in  influential  quarters ; perhaps  he  may  be  able  to 
present  this  new  doctrine  among  the  great  and  wise 
men  who  live  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  such 
hard  and  unpalatable  words  ought  not  to  be  spoken 
to  him,  standing  as  he  does  on  the  very  threshold 
of  the  new  kingdom,  and  eager  to  enter  it.”  But, 
with  Jesus,  here  as  elsewhere,  now  as  always,  there 
was  no  compromise,  no  lowering  of  the  standard, 


As  Tested  by  Poverty . 


19 


no  truce  with  the  world  spirit,  no  equivocation,  no 
evasion,  no  hiding  or  obscuring  of  the  truth.  The 
man  needed  to  understand  what  was  involved  in  his 
choice,  and  so  Jesus  said  to  him  : “ I am  poor;  my 
life,  and  the  life  of  those  who  company  with  me,  is 
to  be  a life  of  stern  poverty,  yea,  of  wandering  and 
homeless  poverty  ; I am  not  as  well  off  as  the  beasts 
of  the  field  and  the  fowls  of  the  air:  the  fox  has  a 
hole  in  which  he  may  seek  security  and  refuge  and 
rest,  which  is  his  home ; the  birds  of  the  air  have 
their  snug  dwelling-places,  their  warm  nests ; but  as 
for  me,  there  is  no  place  that  I dare  call  my  own  ; 
the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head.” 

We  see  here  the  perfect  Man  in  poverty,  the  per- 
fect Man  in  actual  poverty,  rising  superior  to  the 
malign  elements,  the  limitations  and  stings  of  that 
state ; and  this  raises  for  us  the  fruitful  theme  of 
Christian  manliness  in  poverty.  Let  us  consider 
some  of  the  difficulties,  the  besetments,  the  hinder- 
ances,  the  tests  interposed  by  poverty  in  the  devel- 
opment of  an  ideal  manhood.  There  is  danger  to 
a lofty  Christian  manliness  in  the  false,  and  I fear 
the  growing,  idea  (growing  certainly  in  some  por- 
tions of  American  society)  that  poverty  is  a neces- 
sary shame  and  an  inherent  disgrace,  a token  and  a 
badge  of  social  dishonor.  There  is  indeed  dishon- 
orable poverty,  disgraceful  poverty,  poverty  of 
which  a true  man  may  be  justly  ashamed — a poverty 
that  is  the  fruit  of  idleness,  a poverty  that  is  the 
result  of  vice,  a poverty  that  is  the  result  of  laziness; 
there  is  no  intrinsic  honor,  no  inherent  virtue,  in 


20 


Christian  Manliness. 


a poverty  which  is  the  result  either  of  laziness,  or 
of  vice,  or  of  shiftlessness.  But  where  poverty  is 
not  the  retributive  issue  of  dissipation,  or  idleness, 
or  crime;  where,  by  no  act  of  folly  or  wastefulness, 
by  no  course  of  carelessness,  no  sin  or  crime  of  our 
own,  poverty  comes  to  us  by  causes  over  which  we 
have  absolutely  no  control — as  where  we  are  born 
to  it — then  there  is  nothing  in  poverty  intrinsically 
disgraceful  or  shameful.  So  far  from  this,  there  is 
a poverty  that  comes  to  men  sometimes  that  is  the 
immediate  occasion  or  reason  for  that  splendid 
forth-putting  of  irresistible  energy  which  first  brings 
to  real  men  a regal  sense  of  themselves.  When, 
however,  a youth  begins  to  look  upon  poverty  as  a 
badge  of  shame,  as  a token  of  social  disgrace,  he  at 
once  opens  every  gate  of  his  soul  to  the  entrance 
of  the  enemy,  to  all  manner  of  temptations — the 
temptation  to  evasion,  to  pretense,  to  seeming,  to 
concealment,  to  equivocation,  to  falsehood — and  the 
perils  of  his  situation  will  soon  appear.  In  his  en- 
deavor to  associate  with  those  whose  means  are  far 
beyond  his  own,  and  where  he  must  necessarily — if 
he  means  to  dress  as  they  do,  if  he  means  to  have  such 
amusements  as  they  have,  if  he  means  to  mingle  in 
such  pleasures  as  they  do — he  must  necessarily  be 
encouraging  dishonest  thoughts  and  secretly  medi- 
tating crooked  courses ; for  neither  his  income,  nor 
his  wardrobe,  nor  his  business,  nor  his  prospects, 
nor  any  thing  in  his  present  circumstances  will  jus- 
tify him  in  attempting  to  live  beyond  his  means. 
Woe  to  the  young  men  who,  regarding  poverty  as 


As  Tested  by  Poverty . 


21 


a shame  and  a disgrace,  are  striving  to  wear  such 
clothes,  to  mingle  with  such  people,  to  go  into  that 
kind  of  society  where  it  will  soon  become  necessary 
for  them  to  lie  and  steal  in  order  to  keep  up  ap- 
pearances. 

He  who  would  preserve  his  manhood  in  poverty 
must  have  a serene  faith  and  an  invincible  cour- 
age. Poverty,  especially  to  certain  men,  to  men 
with  a certain  order  or  balance  of  faculty,  moral  and 
intellectua.  suggests  doubts  of  the  absolute  equity 
of  God’s  moral  rule  over  the  world  and  men.  It 
may  be  in  earlier  years,  it  may  be  at  a time  when 
poverty  pinches  closely  and  sharply ; but,  however 
brought  about,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  some  men 
endowed  with  a high  degree  of  thinking  power, 
born  in  such  poverty,  do  come  sooner  or  later  to 
the  place  where  they  will  at  least  wonder  why  they 
were  born  so  empty  and  poor,  and  so  many  weak, 
useless,  incapable,  undeserving  people  were  born 
rich.  And  when  this  wonder  grows  into  doubt,  and 
this  doubt  is  allowed  to  remain  with  us,  when  we 
harbor  it,  when  we  feed  it,  when  we  nurse  it,  when  we 
strengthen  it,  when  we  allow  it  to  smother  energy 
and  truth,  when  we  begin  to  adopt  practically,  without 
knowing  the  meaning  of  the  word,  the  philosophy 
of  pessimism — that  every  thing  is  bad,  and  going  to 
the  bad — then  poverty  is  acting  like  moral  poison. 
My  young  friends,  I would  be  entirely  frank  with 
you.  There  are  a great  many  things  here  we  do 
not  understand.  I have  sent  many  puzzling  ques- 
tions, as  well  as  many  dear  friends,  into  the  other 


22 


Christian  Manliness . 


life.  I fear  not  to  leave  to  him  who  is  our  Father 
any  question  that  is  too  hard  for  me.  Life,  with 
work  and  trust,  is  ever  so  much  better  than  slow 
death  from  the  poison  of  a swarm  of  stinging  inter- 
rogation points.  We  must  never  allow  ourselves  to 
doubt  that  at  the  center  of  the  universe  is  absolute 
equity.  Come  whatever  doubts  may,  come  what- 
ever hardships  may,  no  matter  how  much  we  are 
puzzled  by  things  on  which,  with  our  feeble  thought- 
power,  we  can  throw  no  revealing  light — we  must 
always  believe  that  at  the  center  of  the  universe 
there  is  eternal  rectitude.  We  must  believe  that, 
or  we  shall  die  of  heart-break.  Whatever  happens 
to  us,  however  dark  the  day,  however  leaden  the 
sky,  however  heavy  the  burden,  however  long  and 
lonely  the  night,  however  bitter  the  disciplines 
through  which  we  must  pass,  we  must  believe  that 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  at  last,  somehow, 
somewhere,  do  right  to  all  his  children. 

If  we  mean  to  carry  our  manhood  uncorrupted 
through  the  state  of  poverty,  we  will  need  also  to 
be  brave  men  ; not  cowardly  men,  not  men  who 
will  shrink,  not  men  who  will  flee  the  battle.  We 
need  to  have  the  rare  quality  called  moral  courage, 
and,  above  all,  we  must  not  rail  at  the  world.  Do 
not  sit  down  in  the  ashes  and  wail  and  mourn  and 
lament.  What  business  have  we,  sons  of  God  in 
disguise,  awaiting  the  hour  of  our  disclosure,  to 
sit  down  by  the  “ poisoned  springs  of  life,  waiting 
for  the  morrow  that  shall  free  us  from  the  strife  ?” 

I know  that  the  world  looks  dark  to  some  of  you, 


23 


As  Tested  by  Poverty . 

but  I know  also  that  the  men  who  bravely  front  it, 
and  fear  not  to  look  it  full  in  the  face,  and  fight  it, 
will  find  that  it  is  not  such  a bad  world  after  all. 
Do  not  imitate  the  man  who,  because  of  repeated 
disappointments,  fell  into  the  habit  of  railing  at  the 
world,  and  finally  declared  that,  if  he  had  been  a 
hatter,  he  was  sure  men  would  have  been  born 
without  heads.  We  all  need  to  buy  a new  diction- 
ary, and,  if  possible,  I hope  every  one  of  you  will 
get  a copy  of  the  same  edition  General  Grant  is 
said  to  have  had  when  he  was  a boy  ; the  one  in 
which,  as  he  told  his  father  once,  he  could  not  find 
the  word  “ can’t.”  I am  informed  that  this  was  the 
copy  he  took  with  him  through  the  war,  and  I am 
half  inclined  to  believe  it.  The  man  who  says,  “ I 
can’t,”  confesses  and  brands  himself  a coward.  With 
his  own  hand  he  burns  the  brand  deep  in  his  own 
flesh.  Don’t  ! 

There  is  a flood  of  temptations  assailing  Chris- 
tian manliness  coming  in  from  another  quarter, 
especially  when  bright  young  men  suddenly  find 
themselves  in  poverty,  without  friends,  and  with  no 
immediate  prospect  of  pecuniary  independence. 
These  may  be  described  by  the  general  statement 
that  they  are  slyly  and  plausibly  solicited  to  rely 
upon  smartness,  upon  cunning  tricks,  upon  sharp 
dealings,  upon  brilliant  strokes,  rather  than  upon 
quiet,  steady,  solid,  faithful,  honest,  hard  work. 
This  class  of  temptations  is  peculiarly  insinuating 
to  those  who  have  a quick,  facile,  and  showy  under- 
standing, and  have  never  learned  to  work.  God 


24 


Christian  Manliness . 


pity  the  young  man  with  an  alert  brain  who  does 
not  know  how  to  do  something  with  his  hands  ! Is 
it  unfashionable?  Then  let  me  be  forever  out  of 
style.  I am  a follower  in  this  matter  of  the  old 
Jewish  rabbis  who  declared,  “ He  who  raises  his  son 
without  a trade  raises  him  to  be  a thief.’,  In  the 
complex  conditions  of  modern  life,  especially  in 
great  cities,  the  young  man  who  reaches  his  ma- 
jority not  having  learned  to  work,  that  is,  not  hav- 
ing learned  to  do  something  which  the  world  really 
needs,  and  to  do  that  something  well — I do  not 
mean  now  merely  a mechanical  craft,  although  it 
would  be  a great  blessing  if  more  of  our  young  men 
were  mechanics — I mean  something  the  world  must 
have  done  by  somebody.  I say  that  the  young  man 
who  has  reached  his  majority  and  cannot  do  some- 
thing in  this  sense  is  in  a weak,  helpless,  and  most 
pitiable  condition.  I declare  that  he  who  has  not 
yet  learned  the  value  of  industry,  he  who  is  study- 
ing to  be  an  adventurer,  a moral  gambler,  a game- 
ster, a sharp  speculator — the  young  man  who  is 
planning  and  scheming  to  live  on  his  wits  without 
work — is  on  his  way  to  the  penitentiary.  In  nine 
cases  out  of  ten,  if  the  laws  are  enforced,  that  is 
precisely  where  he  will  land.  Remember  that  for 
every  honest  fortune  suddenly  made,  a hundred  fort- 
unes are  slowly  made  ; remember  that  in  times  of 
commercial  crash  the  sudden  fortunes  almost  always 
go  first,  and  the  slowly  built  fortunes  weather  the 
storm  ; remember  that  for  every  man  who  makes  a 
great  and  sudden  success  there  is  sure  to  be  a para- 


As  Tested  by  Poverty . 


25 


graph  in  the  newspapers,  while  the  same  newspapers 
make  little  account  of  quiet,  patient  worth  and 
honest  industry  ; remember  that  the  lasting  reputa- 
tions in  every  department  of  professional  activity 
are  the  slowly  built,  solid  reputations  ; remember 
that  when  God  means  to  bless  men  by  riches  he 
does  it  as  he  blesses  the  earth  by  rain.  The  gentle 
rain,  continued  through  days,  penetrates  the  soil 
and  soaks  the  roots  ; the  sudden,  dashing  rain  only 
moistens  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Beware  of  the 
wealth  that  comes  like  a dashing  storm  ! It  will 
never  reach  the  roots  of  your  being. 

Christian  manliness  is  menaced  also  by  the  temp- 
tation to  believe  that  happiness,  growth,  strength, 
are  to  be  sought  and  found  rather  in  what  men 
have  than  in  what  men  are.  There  is  no  mistake 
among  young  men  more  wide-spread,  none  more 
fatal,  none  more  false,  than  the  belief  that  what 
men  have  constitutes  happiness,  growth,  strength  ; 
and  there  is  nothing  more  demoralizing.  There 
are  a great  many  young  men  who  are  saying  to 
themselves,  “ If  I lived  in  that  house  over  there,  if 
I just  had  that  man’s  income,  I would  be  happy.” 
There  are  a great  many  foolish  young  men  who 
think  that  Mr.  Vanderbilt  sleeps  ten  hours  out  of 
the  twenty-four,  while,  if  the  truth  were  known, 
there  are  few  men  in  America  who  sleep  fewer 
hours,  sleep  less  lightly  and  less  refreshingly.  The 
idea  that  wealth  is  an  unmixed  blessing  is  a mistake. 
Wealth  once  acquired  must  be  kept,  and  how  diffi- 
cult that  is  let  them  describe  who  have  tried  ! 


26 


Christian  Manliness . 


When  a man  gets  a fortune,  at  once  all  sorts  of  peo- 
ple want  to  know  him  ; he  has  more  friends  than  he 
ever  dreamed  of  before  ; he  has  more  subscription 
papers  thrust  under  his  eyes  than  ever  before,  and 
he  must  indeed  be  glib  of  tongue  and  quick  of  hand 
and  fleet  of  foot  to  escape  the  one  half  of  them  ; 
that  is  the  time  when  all  of  his  relatives,  near  and 
remote,  and  all  his  wife’s  relatives,  near  and  remote, 
are  anxious  to  establish  close  family  relations  ; that 
is  the  time  when  a man’s  life  is  fairly  badgered  and 
worried  out  of  him  by  people  who  have  no  sort  of 
claim  upon  him.  This  idea  that  heaven  consists  in 
possessing  wealth  ! My  friends,  my  friends,  we 
carry  hell  or  heaven  about  with  us  in  our  own 
breasts,  and  we  will  never  find  it  any  place  else  ; it 
is  not  outside  of  us,  and  it  never  will  be.  I speak 
with  reverence,  but  God  himself  could  not  put  a 
good  man  in  hell;  there  is  no  hell  for  the  good 
man — you  cannot  conceive  of  one  ; he  would  make 
what  you  call  hell  a heaven.  I repeat  it:  There  is 
no  hell  for  the  good  man. 

One  day  when  our  Lord  was  teaching,  and  a 
great  crowd  of  people  were  gathered  about  him, 
suddenly  his  discourse  was  interrupted  by  a man 
who  came  out  of  the  crowd  and  said,  “ Master, 
speak  to  my  brother,  that  he  divide  the  inheritance 
with  me.”  He  was  a man  who  supposed  that  if  he 
could  once  secure  an  equitable  division  of  his  father’s 
estate  all  his  troubles  would  at  once  disappear, 
all  his  wrongs  would  be  righted,  and  henceforth 
the  world  would  be  just  about  what  it  ought  to  be. 


As  Tested  by  Poverty . 


27 


So  he  came  to  Jesus,  but  Jesus  refused  to  have  any 
thing  to  do  with  him.  He  never  interfered  in  any 
personal,  political,  or  domestic  difficulties.  I do 
not  now  recall  a single  instance  of  his  having  done 
so.  He  looked  at  him  and  said,  “ Man,  who  made 
me  a judge  or  divider  over  you  ? ” Then  he  turned 
from  the  man  to  the  great  crowd,  and  said,  “ Take 
heed  and  beware  of  covetousness  ” (that  is,  beware 
of  greed  for  money),  “ for  a man’s  life  ” (his  true 
life,  his  real  life)  “ consisteth  not  in  the  abundance 
of  the  things  which  he  possesseth.”  Then  he  spoke 
the  parable  of  the  rich  man  whose  grounds  brought 
forth  plentifully,  and  he  tore  down  his  old,  rickety 
barns,  and  built  new  barns,  which  he  filled  to  over- 
flowing, and  then,  seating  himself  on  a large  easy 
chair,  he  stroked  himself  with  great  satisfaction,  and 
said  to  himself,  “ Soul,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry; 
thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years.”  He 
had  scarcely  finished  his  soliloquy  when  quick 
through  the  silent  night  came  the  awful  voice  of 
God:  “Thou  fool,  this  night  thy  soul  shall  be  re- 
quired of  thee  ; then  whose  shall  those  things  be 
which  thou  hast  provided  ? So  is  every  one  that  is 
not  rich  toward  God.” 

Are  these  obstacles  surmountable  ? Are  these 
difficulties  removable?  Are  these  temptations  con- 
querable? Do  you  know  of  any  man  or  men  who 
have  stood  in  poverty,  beset  by  temptations  like 
these,  and  kept  their  manhood  uncorrupted  ? About 
seventy-five  years  ago,  far  away  in  the  granite  hills 

of  New  Hampshire,  a little  tow-headed  boy  had  a 
3 


28 


Christian  Manliness . 


hard  time  of  it  wading  through  the  snow-drifts  two 
and  three  feet  deep  to  the  rude  school-house.  His 
parents  lived  in  a rough,  unpainted,  one-story  frame 
house,  and  what  little  he  really  learned  he  acquired 
from  his  wise  and  intelligent  mother,  a woman  who 
filled  his  memory  and  fired  his  imagination  with  the 
thrilling  stories  of  the  Scotch-Irish  settlement  in 
the  north  of  Ireland.  One  Monday  morning  at 
sunrise  a strange  experience  came  into  this  boy’s 
life,  for  the  sheriff  and  the  chief  creditor  of  his 
father  came,  and  as  they  knocked  at  the  front 
door  his  father  disappeared  at  the  rear  door,  and 
was  invisible  the  remainder  of  the  day;  then  the 
creditor  and  the  sheriff  began  to  seize  on  the  goods 
in  the  presence  of  the  family,  until  finally  a friend 
and  neighbor  came  and  took  them  away  in  a wagon 
from  the  scene  of  their  sorrow  and  shame.  Then 
they  tried  it  in  Vermont,  and  they  had  a hard  time 
of  it  there,  and  at  fifteen  years  of  age  he  had  to  go 
to  Poultney  to  learn  the  printing  trade,  where  he 
indentured  himself  for  five  years.  His  father  could 
not  make  things  go  in  Vermont,  and  so  he  con- 
cluded to  go  out  into  the  western  part  of  New  York, 
and  hew  himself  a home  out  of  the  virgin  forest. 
The  boy  walked  twelve  miles  out  from  Poultney  to 
say  good-bye ; and  although  they  had  had  hard 
times  together  he  would  have  been  quite  willing  to 
have  gone  with  them  (if  his  mother  had  asked  him) 
but  for  one  reason — that  is,  he  would  not  break 
faith  with  his  employer.  So  he  said  good-bye  to 
them,  and  walked  back  to  Poultney.  He  said  it 


As  Tested  by  Poverty . 


29 


was  the  slowest  and  saddest  walk  of  his  life,  and  we 
may  well  believe  him.  He  stayed  there  until  he  had 
learned  his  trade,  and  then  he  went  west  and  helped 
his  father  chop  the  trees,  occasionally  working  at 
his  trade.  Finally,  when  he  had  fifty  dollars,  he 
thought  it  was  time  to  go  to  New  York,  so  he  di- 
vided the  fifty  dollars,  giving  his  father  twenty-five 
and  keeping  twenty-five  himself.  He  walked  to  Al- 
bany, and  came  down  from  there  on  the  boat. 
After  landing,  he  walked  up  to  the  corner  of  Wall 
and  Broad  Streets,  and  entered  a boarding-house, 
where  they  told  him  the  price  of  board  was  six  dol- 
lars a week.  He  said,  “ I can’t  afford  to  pay  that  ” 
(there  are  not  a great  many  young  men  nowadays 
who  are  not  able  to  pay  any  price  for  board),  so  he 
walked  about  until  he  found  a boarding-house  on 
West  Street  where  he  could  live  for  two  dollars  and 
a half  a week.  It  was  not  an  inviting  place  ; they 
sold  liquor  below,  but  he  was  a teetotaler,  and  they 
gave  him  fair  bread  and  butter,  and  he  stayed  there. 
He  started  in  business  several  times,  and  failed  sev- 
eral times,  but  always  paid  his  debts.  He  made 
several  publishing  ventures,  and  finally  on  a day  of 
“most  unseasonable  chill  and  sleet  and  snow,”  in 
the  year  1841,  some  newsboys  cried  out,  “New 
York  Tribune , one  cent  a copy ! ” Then  began  the 
great  work  of  his  life,  and  for  more  than  thirty  years 
he  formed  and  directed  public  opinion.  He  did 
not  find  out  what  public  opinion  was  and  then  re- 
cord it,  but  he  created  public  opinion  ; he  molded 
it,  gave  it  impulse  and  direction,  and  at  last  met  the 


30 


Christian  Manliness . 


fate  of  many  of  the  world’s  great  men,  being  hound- 
ed and  hunted  to  death  chiefly  by  men  whose  power 
and  publicity  he  had  made  possible.  He  died  an 
uncrowned  king,  but  the  tears  of  a nation  were  his 
monument.  And  this  is  the  triumph  of  manhood 
over  poverty  in  the  life  of  Horace  Greeley  in  Amer- 
ica in  the  nineteenth  century. 

It  is  not  true  in  the  North  only.  About  sixty- 
five  years  ago,  in  the  South,  there  was  an  orphan 
in  Georgia  who  was  poor,  but  bright,  acquisitive, 
full  of  mental  eagerness,  and  the  Georgia  Educa- 
tional Society  heard  about  him,  and  sent  him  to 
school,  and  he  went  through  college.  He  was  grad- 
uated, and  the  most  remarkable  thing  about  his 
early  career  was  that  as  soon  as  he  earned  the  money 
he  paid  back  to  the  Georgia  Educational  Society 
what  they  had  loaned  him.  That  is  more  than 
some  young  preachers  have  done — paid  back  to  the 
eleemosynary  and  other  societies  the  funds  loaned 
them  to  procure  collegiate  and  seminary  training. 
He  began  to  practice  law,  and  he  did  what,  in  that 
section  of  the  country,  meant  a good  deal  more  than 
it  ever  did  in  this  section  of  the  country — he  swept 
his  own  office,  he  built  his  own  fires,  he  blacked  his 
own  boots,  and  he  managed  to  live  on  six  dollars  a 
month.  When  his  first  important  case  came  on  he 
went  to  the  county-seat  to  try  it,  and,  finding  that 
he  did  not  have  sufficient  means  to  go  to  the  hotel 
where  the  other  lawyers  were  stopping,  he  arranged 
his  toilet  in  the  woods  outside  of  the  town,  his 
horse  tied  to  a tree.  His  toilet  made,  he  went  in 


3i 


As  Tested  by  Poverty . 

and  won  the  suit.  He  saved  up  money  until  he 
bought  back  the  homestead  which,  his  father  had 
lost.  He  did  good  as  opportunity  afforded,  taking 
more  than  fifty  young  men  from  the  common  school 
and  helping  them  through  college,  paying  the  entire 
expenses  of  twenty  young  men  of  unusual  promise. 
I never  saw  him  but  once — a poor,  feeble,  broken- 
down,  attenuated  old  man,  with  the  stigma  upon 
him  of  having  been  a conspicuous  leader  of  an  un- 
successful rebellion,  rolled  about  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  in  his  invalid  chair ; but  when,  in 
that  thin,  shrill,  piping  voice,  he  said,  “ Mr.  Speaker, 
Mr.  Speaker,”  James  A.  Garfield  and  other  Repub- 
lican leaders  ran  down  the  aisle  to  hear  what  Alex- 
ander H.  Stephens  had  to  say.  Essential  manliness 
knows  no  North,  no  South,  no  circumstances,  no 
conditions.  Wherever  it  finds  itself  in  the  world,  it 
fights  its  battles  and  wins  its  victories. 

Nor  these  alone,  for  there  are  many  in  humble 
life  who  have  fought  life’s  battle  and  won  ; whose 
names  are  not  recorded  in  human  history,  albeit  they 
are  recorded  in  that  Book  where  nothing  good  or 
great  or  noble  is  ever  forgotten.  There  once  was  a 
boy  in  a printing-office,  an  apprentice,  and  the  boys 
in  the  shop  said  he  was  penurious,  mean,  niggardly, 
because  he  would  not  take  part  in  their  u treats.” 
If  they  wanted  beer,  to  use  the  phraseology  of  that 
shop,  he  would  not  “ chip  in  ; ” if  they  wanted  ice- 
cream, he  would  not  contribute  any  thing  to  the  ex- 
pense. They  thought  it  was  mean  and  contempti- 
ble, and  they  followed  him  one  day  and  saw  him  go 


32 


Christian  Manliness . 


into  a cheap  baker)'  and  buy  some  bread,  and  they 
followed  him  up-stairs  where  there  was  an  old,  fee- 
ble mother  and  a blind  sister,  and  then  they  knew 
that  the  stuff  was  in  him  out  of  which  you  make 
heroes.  Hugh  Miller  said  of  the  master-mason  to 
whom  he  was  apprenticed  that  “ he  never  laid  a 
stone  without  putting  his  conscience  into  it.”  That 
man  was  a hero  ! Poor,  are  you  ? And  do  you 
know  how  many  great  men  have  been  poor?  Paul, 
the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  was  poor  and  a tent- 
maker  ; Hildebrand,  the  great  ecclesiastical  states- 
man, afterward  Gregory  VII.,  the  greatest  of  the 
popes,  was  poor  ; Martin  Luther  was  the  son  of  a 
North  Saxon  miner,  and  poor.  Have  you  heard  of 
Jeremy  Taylor,  whose  pen  dropped  gold,  and  of 
Sir  Richard  Arkwright,  the  inventor  of  the  spinning- 
jenny,  and  of  Turner,  the  great  landscape-painter? 
They  all  graduated  from  the  barber-shop.  Poor, 
are  you?  Shakespeare’s  father  was  a grazier,  and 
Cardinal  Wolsey’s  was  a butcher;  Ben  Jonson 
worked  with  a trowel  in  his  hand  and  a book  in  his 
pocket.  Poor,  are  you  ? Faraday  was  apprenticed 
to  a bookbinder  until  he  was  twenty-two  years  of 
age  ; Sir  William  Herschel  began  life  as  a hautboy- 
player  in  a regimental  band  ; Claude  Lorraine,  the 
great  French  landscape-painter,  was  first  an  appren- 
tice to  a pastry  cook  ; John  Bunyan  was  a tinker; 
Copernicus  was  the  son  of  a Polish  baker;  Richard 
Cobden  was  a London  warehouse  boy,  whose  mas- 
ters told  him  not  to  waste  too  much  time  in  read- 
ing. Poor,  are  you  ? Do  you  know  that  Ben 


As  Tested  by  Poverty . 


33 


Franklin  was  the  son  of  a Boston  tallow-chandler? 
And  Patrick  Henry,  by  whose  fiery  and  resistless 
eloquence  Virginia  was  swept  into  the  tide  of  the 
Revolution,  was  poor  ; and  William  Henry  Harrison 
was  poor;  and  Henry  Wilson  was  poor;  and  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  was  poor;  and  James  A.  Garfield  was 
poor.  Empty  this  church  of  the  men  who  were 
poor  first,  and  it  could  not  sustain  itself  as  a second- 
rate  mission-chapel ! Empty  New  York  of  the  men 
who  were  first  poor,  and  you  would  paralyze  its 
greatest  enterprises ! Poor,  are  you  ? Poverty 
means  to  the  man  who  has  the  genuine  material  in 
him  out  of  which  men  are  made,  the  opportunity  to 
force  victory  from  apparent  defeat,  and  despite 
obscurity  and  ill-health  and  lack  of  friends,  and  the 
great  world’s  stony  indifference,  to  fight  his  way  to 
the  front. 

“ The  foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air 
have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to 
lay  his  head.”  The  poverty  of  Jesus  was  not 
feigned  ; it  was  real,  actual.  I do  not  understand 
how  so  many  people  can  believe  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  interpret  it  in  the  way  they  do.  If  I 
thought  these  words  were  feigned,  that  they  were 
words  of  simulation,  it  would  take  the  very  heart 
out  of  them  for  me.  If  these  words  are  to  be  taken 
in  an  accommodated  sense,  as  many  people  seem 
to  believe  ; if  Jesus  was  not  really  poor,  and  sim- 
ply pretended  that  he  was,  why,  then,  away  with 
him  ! If  the  tears  he  wept  were  dramatic  tears,  he 
is  no  helper  to  me  when  mine  flow  like  rain.  His 


34 


Christian  Manliness . 


poverty  was  real  as  his  sorrow  was  real,  it  was  real 
as  his  loneliness  was  real,  it  was  real  as  his  betrayal 
by  friends  was  real,  it  was  as  real  as  any  act  or  ex- 
perience of  that  marvelous  divine  life  in  the 
flesh  ! It  was  not  a seeming,  fictitious,  theatrical 
poverty,  it  was  a real  poverty,  the  genuine  poverty 
of  One  who  deliberately  chose  it,  of  One  who, 
“ being  rich,  for  our  sakes  became  poor.”  And 
when  he  chose  poverty  it  was  an  actual,  straitening, 
pinching  poverty ; and  therefore  I say  that  he  is  in 
full  and  gracious  sympathy  with  all  who  are  in  pov- 
erty and  are  struggling  to  be  manly.  “ Forasmuch 
as  his  brethren  partook  of  flesh  and  blood,  he  also 
himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same.”  He  was 
tempted  (tested)  in  all  points,  just  as  we  are  being 
tested  daily.  Therefore  I present  him  to  you  as  your 
Captain,  your  Leader,  your  Brother,  your  Friend, 
in  every  effort  to  maintain  manhood  in  poverty, 
loneliness,  discouragement,  and  depression.  Do  not 
be  a whiner.  Do  not  be  a murmurer.  Do  not  be 
an  adventurer.  Do  not  be  a sneak.  Do  not  nomi- 
nate and  elect  yourself  as  a martyr.  Do  not  rail  at 
the  world.  Up  and  at  it  ! Do  your  best  ! You 
can  fight,  and  you  can,  if  need  be,  die  trying  to  be 
dutiful,  loving,  true.  And  Jesus  will  help  you  to 
win  the  fight.  Obey  him,  follow  him,  enlist  under 
his  banner.  He  has  never  led  a soldier  anywhere  to 
permanent  loss  and  defeat.  Who  would  fear  to 
trust  himself  to  a Pilot  who  in  every  sort  of  craft, 
in  every  stress  of  weather,  had  safely  sailed  in  every 
sea  ? He  comes  from  the  highest  Heaven,  our  glo- 


As  Tested  by  Poverty . 


35 


rious  Captain,  first  being  made  in  all  things  like 
unto  his  brethren,  and  lo  ! he  marches  out  into  the 
“ open  field  of  the  great  world,  carrying  the  victo- 
rious standard  which  shall  never  go  back.”  Believe 
him,  obey  him,  trust  him,  and  he  will  conduct  you 
to  eternal  triumph  and  honor  and  power. 


36 


Christian  Manliness. 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS— AS  PUT  TO  THE 
PROOF  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE. 

When  Jesus  therefore  perceived  that  they  would  come  and 
take  him  by  force,  to  make  him  a king,  he  departed  again  into 
a mountain  himself  alone. — John  vi,  15. 

I AM  to  speak  to  you  to-night  of  Manhood  in 
Public  Life.  In  this  country,  with  our  popular 
methods  of  political  action,  with  the  very  air  itself 
instinct  with  the  spirit  of  democracy,  under  our 
elastic  forms  of  social  and  political  action,  every 
citizen,  at  some  time  or  other  in  the  course  of  his 
life,  must  expect  to  be  called  to  the  performance  of 
some  public  duties.  In  fact,  every  time  we  cast  a 
ballot  we  have  entered  public  life.  The  casting  of 
a ballot,  under  a political  system  such  as  ours,  is  not 
a private  act  ; it  is  an  act  that  has  a certain  and 
more  or  less  intimate  relation  to  the  common  weal, 
and  our  ballot  stands  for  our  opinion  as  to  the  right 
policies  or  the  right  men  required  for  the  duties  of 
the  time.  Every  man  who  is  worthily  a holder  and 
exerciser  of  the  right  of  suffrage  is  by  so  much  a 
public  man,  being  bound  to  think  not  only  of  his 
personal  welfare  and  protection,  but  of  the  security 
and  happiness  of  all  who  are  joined  with  him  in  this 
political  society.  We  have  in  this  country,  happily, 
no  hereditary  ruling  class,  no  established  Church,  no 
privileged  office-holding  class,  and  I wish  I could 


As  Put  to  the  Proof  in  Public  Life . 37 

say  no  chartered  monopolies,  but,  alas  ! I cannot  ; 
and  such  are  the  conditions  of  public  life,  such  is 
the  nature  of  our  political  institutions,  that  their 
gifts,  their  honors,  their  emoluments,  their  powers 
are  open  to  all  who  are  pleased  to  strive  for  them. 
It  is  the  duty,  therefore,  of  every  citizen  of  a repre- 
sentative republic  to  prepare  himself,  as  far  as  in 
him  lies,  to  respond  to  such  calls  as  may  be  made 
on  him  by  his  fellow-citizens,  so  that  he  may  serve 
the  State  with  capacity,  fidelity,  and  honor.  It  is 
the  more  necessary  to  say  these  things  because  one 
of  the  dangers  of  the  day  is  the  lurking  belief  that 
between  high  character,  and  especially  high  charac- 
ter in  the  religious  sense,  and  political  or  public  life 
there  is  necessary  incompatibility.  So  far  as  this 
opinion  still  obtains  it  is  a dangerous  opinion.  I 
am  quite  sure  that  it  largely  obtained  in  the  com- 
munity  in  which  I grew  up,  and  especially  among 
the  religious  portion  of  the  community.  To  such 
an  extent  did  it  prevail  that,  while  it  was  thought 
that  a man  might  be  a lawyer  and  get  to  heaven,  it 
was  almost  universally  believed  that  a man  could 
not  be  a politician  and  get  to  heaven.  It  was 
thought  necessary,  in  order  to  attain  any  eminence 
in  religious  character,  that  one  should  separate  him- 
self from  the  profession  of  the  law,  and  certainly 
from  any  kind  of  active  participation  in  public  af- 
fairs. Such  teaching  has  not  been  confined  to  pro- 
vincial villages.  The  eminent  Dr.  Dewey,  deliver- 
ing some  profound  lectures  before  the  Lowell  Insti- 
tute, made  a digression  to  call  upon  some  eminent 


Christian  Manliness , 


33 

member  of  the  legal  profession  to  rescue  his  profes- 
sion from  the  unjust  reproaches  that  had  fallen  upon 
it  as  being  unfriendly  to  the  development  of  high 
character. 

All  this  is  a part  of  the  luggage  that  Protestant- 
ism brought  with  it  when  it  moved  out  from  Rome ; 
for  we  did  not  escape  whole — we  brought  out  with 
us  a good  many  things  that  belonged  to  the  Egyp- 
tians. We  brought  with  us — and  we  have  not  yet 
fully  escaped  its  thralldom — the  mediaeval  ecclesias- 
tical idea  that  life  is  to  be  divided  into  two  parts, 
one  called  secular  and  the  other  religious ; a distinc- 
tion nowhere  recognized  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  entirely  foreign  to  the  whole  spirit  of  the  life 
and  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  attempt  to 
make  one  day  religious  and  another  secular,  to  make 
one  building  sacred  and  another  secular,  to  make 
one  act  holy  and  another  secular,  is  a part  and  par- 
cel of  that  system  of  medievalism  from  which  we 
have  not  wholly  escaped.  There  can  be  no  secular 
days  to  a truly  religious  man,  for  the  consecration 
of  any  day  depends  upon  the  consecration  of  the 
man,  and  wherever  there  is  present  the  ruling  divine 
Spirit,  all  days  are  religious,  all  buildings  are  conse- 
crated, all  acts  are  noble.  There  must,  therefore, 
come  to  men  more  and  more  this  great  truth  of  life, 
that,  so  far  from  there  being  any  incompatibility 
between  high  character  and  political  action,  Christ 
meant  to  develop  and  perfect  the  type  of  char- 
acter to  which  he  calls  us,  IN  the  world,  and  not 
out  of  the  world. 


As  Put  to  the  Proof  in  Public  Life . 39 

If  additional  justification  be  needed  for  the  topic 
of  the  evening,  it  may  be  found  in  the  undeniable 
and  discouraging  fact  that  on  the  part  of  many  edu- 
cated, refined,  and  virtuous  persons  in  the  commu- 
nity there  is  a startling  indifference  to,  sometimes 
an  almost  criminal  neglect  of,  their  civic  duties. 
Those  of  you  who  have  at  any  recent  period  attended 
any  political  conventions  must  have  been  surprised, 
first  at  the  men  who  were  there,  and  next  at  the 
men  who  were  not  there.  If  ever  you  have  made 
a study  of  how  these  cities  are  governed,  and  most 
other  American  cities,  if  ever  you  have  made  a study 
of  those  who  practically  control  the  politics  of  this 
country  in  the  large  centers  of  population,  you  are 
aware  of  the  fact  of  which  the  men  who  are  trying 
to  purify  the  politics  of  our  cities  have  long  been 
painfully  aware ; namely,  that  while  on  the  one  hand 
the  ignorant,  the  venal,  the  corrupt,  the  debased  are 
swift  to  avail  themselves  of  all  political  privileges, 
the  classes  who  are  criminal  in  the  neglect  of  their 
political  duties  are  generally  those  most  competent, 
intellectually  and  morally,  to  perform  the  same. 
It  can  no  longer  be  doubted  that  in  the  majority  of 
the  great  cities  of  America  the  saloon,  its  influence 
and  agents,  stands  for  a mightier  power  in  munici- 
pal affairs  than  the  churches  and  the  school-houses. 
The  statistics  that  have  been  gathered,  the  observa- 
tions made  by  men  free  from  narrowness,  bigotry, 
and  prejudice,  show  conclusively  that  the  saloon, 
and  that  for  which  it  stands,  is  exercising  more 
power  in  our  large  cities  than  all  the  churches  and 


40 


Christian  Manliness . 


school-houses  combined.  What  does  this  mean? 
It  means  that  in  these  cities,  at  least,  we  are  hasten- 
ing to  a government  of  the  worst;  it  means,  unless 
the  evil  be  speedily  corrected,  the  death  of  such 
political  institutions  as  we  now  have,  for  such  insti- 
tutions cannot  long  survive  if  the  government  is 
practically  in  the  hands  of  the  worst  element  in  the 
community. 

I will  not  longer  delay,  in  passing,  to  unfold  or 
discuss  the  peculiar  perils  of  public  life  in  such  a 
democratic  community  as  ours  ; they  are  sufficiently 
indicated  by  such  words  as  sycophancy,  cowardice, 
insincerity,  demagogy,  trickery,  deceitful  handling 
of  the  truth,  venality,  envy,  selfishness,  flattery,  and, 
above  all,  the  worship  of  the  new  and  popular  god 
called  “ Success.” 

It  is  possible  for  men  to  enter  and  remain  in  pub- 
lic life,  and  have  sterling  manliness.  One  night,  in 
the  city  of  London,  when  John  Stuart  Mill  was  ad- 
dressing an  audience  of  working-men,  desiring  their 
votes  to  return  him  to  Parliament,  a man  arose  and 
interrupted  him,  holding  a book  in  his  hand,  and 
asked  Mr.  Mill  if  he  had  not  at  such  a time  pub- 
lished a certain  book  in  which  he  used  the  follow- 
ing language,  in  substance ; namely,  That  one 
marked  characteristic  of  the  workmen  of  that  part 
of  the  city  of  London  was  lying.  “ Now,  Mr.  Mill,” 
said  the  inquirer,  “ did  you  write  this?”  And  John 
Stuart  Mill,  straightening  himself  up  to  his  full 
height,  looking  full  in  the  face  the  men  whose  votes 
were  to  decide  the  question,  calmly  and  quietly  an- 


As  Put  to  the  Proof  in  Public  Life . 41 

swered,  “ I did.”  How  many  men  in  America  would 
first  bring  such  a charge  against  the  electors,  and 
then,  when  the  time  came  to  answer  for  it,  on  the 
very  eve  of  election,  nobly  confess  that  they  had 
made  the  charge,  and  offer  no  word  of  cowardly 
apology  for  their  statement  ? During  the  long  and 
famous  controversy  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts 
that  finally  sent  Charles  Sumner  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  he  was  again  and  again  solicited  by 
over-anxious  friends  to  make  his  appearance  at  the 
capitol,  and  at  least  to  shake  hands  with  some  of 
the  electors,  but  he  quietly  and  persistently  refused 
to  go  near  the  place  or  to  have  any  dealings,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  with  the  men  who  were  to  de- 
termine the  question.  He  never  stooped  to  solicit 
votes  to  seat  him  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
Think  of  it ! Men  used  to  be  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate  on  account  of  their  superior  intelli- 
gence and  pure  character  without  any  personal  solici- 
tation of  votes  ! Yes,  it  is  true,  incredulous  as  it  may 
sound  to  some  of  you.  Alas!  that  class  of  senators 
is  nearly  gone ! And  when  this  man  reached  the 
United  States  Senate  they  had  great  difficulty  to 
classify  him,  because  he  refused  to  commit  himself 
to  any  party,  to  any  convention,  to  any  junta,  and 
when  it  was  proposed  by  some  one  in  the  Senate  to 
give  him  proper  recognition  on  the  committees,  Mr. 
Jefferson  Davis,  a senator  from  Mississippi,  rose 
and  objected  on  the  ground  that  the  senator  from 
Massachusetts  was  outside  of  all  healthy  political 
organizations. 


42 


Christian  Manliness . 


In  some  respects  the  greatest  name  in  English 
politics  and  English  literature  in  the  last  century 
was  Edmund  Burke.  He  carried  into  politics  two 
forces  not  always  found  there — genius  and  con- 
science. He  loved  the  right ; he  had  a simple  faith 
in  it ; he  served  it ; he  would  not  do  it  violence. 
When  the  city  of  Bristol,  in  1774,  made  him  their 
representative  in  Parliament  the  gentleman  who  was 
chosen  before  him,  with  hasty  and  indecent  subserv- 
ience, assured  the  Bristol  merchants  that  he  would  be 
delighted  always  to  carry  out  their  mandates.  Burke, 
following  him,  took  occasion  to  tell  the  Bristol  elect- 
ors that  he  would  carry  out  their  mandates  only  so 
far  as  they  were  approved  by  his  conscience  and 
judgment.  It  happened  that  in  1778  a measure 
came  up  in  Parliament  to  relax  slightly  the  hitherto 
atrocious  fiscal  policy  of  England  toward  Ireland. 
All  the  great  commercial  communities  were  inter- 
ested in  it,  and  the  Bristol  merchants  came  to  Burke 
with  theis  urgent  pleas,  beseeching  him  to  vote 
against  the  bill ; but  he  was  superior  to  British  greed, 
and  plainly  told  them  that  he  saw  no  reason  why 
the  grasping  policy  of  England  toward  Ireland 
should  any  longer  be  pursued.  In  the  same  year 
it  was  proposed  to  repeal  some  of  the  iniquitous 
acts  against  the  Roman  Catholics,  whereupon  the 
religious  zealots  were  aroused,  and  they  sent  a dep- 
utation to  Burke  to  oppose  any  such  liberal  meas- 
ure ; but  as  he  was  for  humanity  in  dealing  with  Ire- 
land so  he  was  for  toleration  to  the  Catholics,  and 
bravely  voted  to  repeal  the  iniquitous  laws.  And 


As  Put  to  the  Proof  in  Public  Life . 43 

then  they  discovered  that  he  had  been  bred  at  St. 
Mary’s,  that  he  was  a papist  in  disguise,  and  that  in 
all  human  probability  he  was  a Jesuit!  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  Edmund  Burke,  with  his  clear  appre- 
hension of  the  right,  and  his  fiery  and  glowing  de- 
votion to  it,  with  his  absolute  faith  in  the  final 
supremacy  of  ethical  forces,  joined  to  his  magnifi- 
cent powers,  should  become  the  master  of  the  most 
superb  and  commanding  eloquence? 

In  the  early  part  of  this  century  there  was  a man 
in  England  who,  in  some  respects,  was  to  English 
politics  and  literature  what  Burke  had  been  in  the 
last  century.  Both  Macaulay  and  Burke  were  men 
of  genius  ; they  both  loved  literature  and  the  “ still 
air  of  delightful  studies  ; ” they  both  had  the  faith 
of  the  right,  and  both  obeyed  it.  When  Macaulay 
was  thirty-two  years  of  age,  standing  as  a parlia- 
mentary candidate  for  Leeds,  the  electors  of  that  city 
demanded  of  him  certain  pledges.  In  reply  he  wrote 
them  the  famous  letter,  which  concludes  as  follows: 
“ It  is  not  necessary  to  my  happiness  that  I should 
sit  in  Parliament,  but  it  is  necessary  to  my  happiness 
that  I should  possess,  in  Parliament  or  out  of  Par- 
liament, the  consciousness  of  having  done  what  is 
right.”  Three  times  he  represented  the  great  city 
of  Edinburgh  in  the  House  of  Commons.  In  the 
year  1847  a most  disgraceful  and  grotesque  combi- 
nation of  religious  bigots  and  whisky-dealers  was 
formed  to  defeat  him,  and  the  combination  was  suc- 
cessful. The  religious  bigots  were  opposed  to  him 

on  the  ground  that  he  had  voted  to  grant  public 

4 


44 


Christian  Manliness . 


money  to  Maynooth  College,  and  Macaulay's  de- 
fense was  that  so  long  as  public  money  was  to  be 
granted  to  any  religious  institutions,  and  Roman 
Catholics  continued  to  be  British  subjects,  he  would 
vote  for  such  appropriations  of  public  money  to 
these  institutions  as  seemed  to  him  just  and  proper, 
whether  they  were  under  the  control  of  Protestants 
or  Catholics.  The  whisky-dealers  wanted  the  tax 
on  whisky  reduced,  and  they  sent  a deputation  to 
ask  him  to  do  something  for  them.  His  reply  was, 
“ Gentlemen,  I can  do  nothing  for  you,  and  the 
probabilities  are  I will  do  something  against  you.” 
The  whisky-dealers  and  the  religious  bigots  joined 
hands  to  leave  at  home  England’s  greatest  historian 
and  essayist.  In  five  years  Edinburgh  came  to  her- 
self, got  her  senses  back  again,  and  sent  him  to  Par- 
liament without  his  appearing  at  the  polls.  It  was 
this  same  Macaulay  who  denied  himself  to  pay  his 
father’s  debts ; who  would  not  go  to  India,  at  a sal- 
ary of  ten  thousand  pounds  a year,  unless  his  fav- 
orite sister,  Hannah,  would  accompany  him,  and 
who,  after  a great  speech  in  Parliament,  stood  cool, 
unmoved,  and  impassive,  the  center  of  an  admiring 
and  applauding  crowd,  but  in  whose  eyes  were  the 
quick  tears  when  he  read  the  congratulatory  note 
of  his  sister  and  niece. 

And  have  we  no  such  men  in  America?  It  has 
pleased  God,  in  his  wise  and  good  providence,  to 
give  to  this  nation  within  the  last  quarter  of  a century 
a most  sovereign  man,  a man  whom  Plutarch  would 
have  been  delighted  to  have  had  for  a hero,  a man 


As  Put  to  the  Proof  in  Public  Life . 45 

whose  name  is  one  of  the  ten  or  twelve  really  great 
names  that  will  survive  all  times  and  civilizations, 
and  that  man  is  Abraham  Lincoln  ! The  whole 
spirit  of  his  life  is  disclosed  by  their  use  of  him 
when  a young  man  on  the  western  frontier.  Fond 
of  out-door  athletic  sports,  he  never  could  have  his 
full  share  in  any  of  the  conflicts,  races,  or  games, 
because  his  comrades  were  perpetually  choosing 
him  for  umpire.  He  was  too  just  a judge  to  be 
permitted  to  act  as  champion.  It  was  Lincoln  who 
wrote,  and  well  would  it  be  for  all  men  if  they 
could  truthfully  write  the  same  words : “I  never 
willingly  planted  a thorn  in  any  man’s  bosom.”  It 
was  Lincoln  who  so  fairly  stated  the  other  side  to 
the  jury  that  his  clients  feared  he  would  concede 
away  their  causes.  It  was  Lincoln  who  said  : “ Cer- 
tainly the  negro  is  not  our  equal  in  color,  and  per- 
haps not  in  many  other  respects ; still,  in  his  right 
to  put  into  his  own  mouth  the  bread  that  he  earns 
with  his  own  hands,  I suppose  that  he  is  equal  to 
any  other  man,  black  or  white.”  It  was  Lincoln 
who,  in  a dark  and  stormy  hour,  wrote  these  words  : 
“ Let  us  hold  fast  the  faith  that  right  makes  might, 
and  in  that  faith  let  us  dare  to  do  our  duty  to  the 
end  as  we  understand  it.”  Why,  these  are  words 
that  will  be  quoted  thousands  of  years  hence ! 
These  axiomatic  statements,  these  pithy  proverbs, 
these  wonderful  sayings  of  Abraham  Lincoln  are 
henceforth  a part  of  the  imperishable  literature  of 
mankind.  They  are  rich  with  the  condensed  ethical 
wisdom  of  the  world.  It  was  Lincoln  who  steadily 


46 


Christian  Manliness . 


refused  to  recede  from  the  ground  taken  in  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation.  There  are  some  peo- 
ple who  pretend  to  have  discovered  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  not  orthodox,  on  the  ground,  as  is  al- 
leged, that  he  denied  the  doctrine  of  future  punish- 
ment. Lincoln  once  gave  his  consent  to  the  doc- 
trine of  future  punishment  in  a direct,  practical  way, 
quite  strong  enough  to  satisfy  me.  Certain  men 
came  to  him  and  proposed  that  he  should  return  to 
slavery  some  black  soldiers,  and  thus  conciliate  the 
South.  “ There  have  been  men  base  enough  to 
propose  to  me  to  return  to  slavery  our  black  war- 
riors of  Port  Hudson  and  Olustee,  and  thus  win  the 
respect  of  the  masters  they  fought.  Should  I do 
so,  I should  deserve  to  be  damned  in  time  and  eter- 
nity. Come  what  will,  I will  keep  my  faith  with 
friend  and  foe.”  Have  you  forgotten  his  patience? 
Have  you  forgotten  his  sympathy  with  the  suffer- 
ing? Have  you  forgotten  his  faith  in  the  people? 
Have  you  forgotten  his  fatherly  tenderness  of  dis- 
position toward  the  private  soldier  boy?  Have  you 
forgotten  his  calm  reliance  on  the  vitality  and  in- 
vincibility of  moral  forces  ? Abraham  Lincoln,  the 
rough,  unpolished  diamond  of  the  West,  the  man 
who  did  what  neither  Sumner,  nor  Chase,  nor  Sew- 
ard, nor  Greeley  could  have  done  : hold  the  heart  of 
the  whole  nation  to  himself  in  the  sublime  convic- 
tion that  he  would  never  fail  to  do  the  right  as  fast 
and  as  far  as  he  saw  it,  nor  ever  permit  malice  to 
enter  his  great  heart ! Forget  him  ? Never!  And 
never,  so  long  as  the  sun  holds  his  place,  and  the 


As  Put  to  the  Proof  in  Public  Life . 


47 


stars  keep  their  courses,  if  we  but  remember  him, 
and  follow  in  his  ways,  need  we  despair  of  the  Re- 
public, for  the  soil  whence  he  sprang  is  rich  enough 
to  produce  other  heroes,  who,  in  times  of  darkness 
and  danger,  shall  rescue  the  nation. 

Will  some  one  ask  how  far  this  is  removed  from 
the  spirit  of  J esus  ? That  depends  on  how  far  you  are 
yourself  removed  from  the  monastery  ! If  your  idea 
of  purity,  virtue,  religion,  is  a monastic  idea,  you 
cannot,  of  course,  see  any  moral  connection  between 
these  truths  and  the  spirit  of  Jesus;  but  if  your  idea 
of  virtue  is  that  it  is  a strong,  hardy,  vigorous  plant, 
growing,  not  in  the  hot-house,  but  in  the  bright, 
fresh,  pure  air  of  heaven,  you  will  not  miss  the  con- 
nection. Jesus  was  a public  man.  From  the  time 
of  his  rejection  by  his  fellow-townsmen  of  Nazareth, 
he  never  had  a home.  He  had  really  no  private  or 
domestic  life  after  his  public  work  began.  The 
foxes  had  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  had  their 
nests,  but  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head.  The 
first  temptation  that  assaulted  Jesus  as  regards  his 
public  life  was  to  be  impatient.  When  he  said 
to  his  mother  at  twelve  years  of  age,  “ Wist  ye  not 
that  I must  be  about  my  Father’s  business?”  what 
does  it  mean  but  that  the  fore-glimpses  of  his  public 
life  were  already  dawning  upon  him  ? Nevertheless, 
he  went  down  to  Nazareth  and  remained  subject 
unto  them  for  eighteen  years.  Great  is  the  mystery 
of  his  being!  I stand  before  it  with  increasing  rev- 
erence and  awe ! More  and  more  do  I call  him  my 
God  in  the  flesh,  but  during  those  eighteen  silent 


48 


Christian  Manliness . 


years,  as  he  grew  to  manhood,  and  to  a sense  of  the 
supreme  Divinity  within,  he  learned  what  every 
Christ-like  man  must  learn — to  be  quiet  and  patient. 

He  knew  what  the  temptation  was  to  become  the 
leader  of  a class.  The  poor  gathered  about  him  in 
great  numbers  ; he  was  friendly  to  them,  he  felt 
their  wrongs,  and  sympathized  deeply  with  them, 
but  he  never  became  a leader  of  the  poor.  We  feel 
that  it  is  irreverent  to  compare  Henry  George  in 
his  championship  of  the  poor  with  the  attitude  of 
Jesus  to  the  poor.  The  poor  of  the  world  have 
never  had  such  a friend  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  but 
he  never  for  one  moment  was  betrayed  into  any 
thought  of  mere  partisan  leadership.  He  must  also 
have  been  tempted  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the 
great  and  powerful.  We  know,  in  fact,  that  it  could 
not  have  been  otherwise  ; but  he  silently  pushed 
away  the  temptation.  We  know  that  he  was 
tempted  at  one  point  in  his  life  by  a close  friend, 
Peter,  to  adopt  the  spirit  of  the  world  rather  than 
the  spirit  of  the  cross,  as  a means  for  the  establish- 
ment of  his  kingdom.  In  the  region  of  Cesarea 
Philippi,  when  Jesus  announced  his  approaching 
death  at  Jerusalem,  and  began  to  unfold  the  final 
scene,  Peter  took  him  to  one  side  and  rebuked  him, 
saying  : “ This  shall  not  be  unto  thee.”  What  was 
it  that  Jesus  said  in  reply?  “ Thou  savorest  not 
the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  the  things  that  be 
of  men.”  It  was  a direct  temptation  to  rely  for  the 
success  of  his  kingdom  upon  human  policy  and  in- 
stitutions, upon  external  agencies,  upon  education, 


As  Put  to  the  Proof  in  Public  Life . 49 

literature  and  art,  upon  any  thing  save  the  cross, 
but  he  distinctly  said^  “ No,  Peter,  I choose  the  way 
of  the  cross  ! ” The  reason  why  it  is  all  so  myste- 
rious to  us — the  great  reason  why  we  do  not  pene- 
trate the  interior  ranges  of  his  truth  better  than  we 
do — is  because  so  few  of  us  in  our  own  lives  are 
seeking  to  perfect  ourselves  by  carrying  his  cross  in 
his  spirit. 

He  deliberately  disclaimed  all  other  sources  of 
influence  and  of  power,  and  went  to  his  cross.  He 
must  have  been  strongly  tempted  to  an  extravagant 
and  intemperate  use  of  the  peculiar  supernatural 
powers  that  resided  in  him.  You  are  surprised, 
some  of  you,  that  he  raised  three  persons  from  the 
dead,  and  I am  surprised,  remembering  who  he  was, 
that  he  did  not  raise  hundreds  of  thousands  from 
the  dead.  Surprised  that  he  healed  a leper  ? Are 
you  not  rather  surprised  that  he  did  not  heal  all 
lepers?  Have  you  never,  in  the  wide  sympathy  of 
your  own  throbbing  heart,  wondered  why  God  ever 
permitted  a single  sigh?  Have  you  never,  in  the 
loneliness  of  your  life,  wondered  why  God  did  not 
cut  his  work  short  in  righteousness  ? And  when 
God’s  Son  was  here,  with  power  to  still  the  sea, 
to  give  sight  to  the  blind,  hearing  to  the  deaf,  lan- 
guage to  the  dumb,  to  make  the  lame  man  leap  as 
a hart,  to  raise  the  dead — why  did  he  not  employ 
his  power  to  make  a perfect  world  ? The  reserved 
use,  the  sober,  temperate,  moral  use  of  the  peculiar 
powers  of  Divinity  resident  in  him  constitutes,  to 
those  who  are  without  bias  and  prepossession,  one 


50 


Christian  Manliness . 


of  the  most  remarkable  and  convincing  proofs  that 
he  was  the  eternal  Son  of  God. 

Do  you  believe  that  when  the  New  Testament 
says  that  Jesus  “ hungered  ” he  really  was  hungry  ? 
f Do  you  believe  that  when  it  says  that  Jesus  endured 
the  ills  of  human  life  he  really  suffered  them  ? Do 
you  not  believe  that  it  was  acted  ? Are  there  not 
here  those  who  explain  away  the  glorious  reality  of 
this  divine  life  ? Do  you  really  believe  that  he  was 
tempted  to  be  a leader  of  the  poor,  to  be  popular 
with  the  great,  and  that  he  refused  these  tempta- 
tions ? That  he  was  tempted  to  use  his  power 
showily  and  extravagantly,  and  that  he  rejected  the 
temptation  ? The  majority  of  people,  as  they  read 
the  New  Testament,  seem  to  me  to  resolve  it  into 
a tissue  of  fictions.  The  Christ  of  many  people 
seems  to  be  a dramatic  Christ  ; one  who  simply 
acted  a part  on  the  stage,  not  one  who  was  really 
in  the  world,  and  lived  and  suffered  and  was 
tempted  as  men  and  women  now  live  and  suffer 
and  are  tempted.  Do  you  believe  the  declaration 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  he  suffered,  be- 
ing tempted  ? Do  you  believe  that  the  heavens 
now  hold  One  who  actually  suffered  in  his  tempta- 
tions ? Jesus  was  a public  man,  and  was  assaulted 
at  the  points  where  every  public  man  is  assaulted, 
and  won  his  victory  there  by  obedience  to  the  will 
of  his  righteous  Father. 

Some  young  man  here,  contemplating  a public 
career,  has  been  soliloquizing  with  himself,  and  has 
about  reached  this  conclusion  ; 44  Well,  for  my  pur- 


As  Put  to  the  Proof  in  Public  Life.  5 1 

poses,  for  my  plan  of  life,  for  my  ambitions,  relig- 
ion is  not  really  a necessity ; I am  strong  and 
healthy,  I have  a good  education,  I mean  to  write 
books  or  edit  a paper  or  enter  upon  the  practice  of 
the  legal  profession,  with  a view  to  politics.  In 
some  way  or  other  I mean  to  serve  the  State  in  a 
public  capacity,  and,  so  far  as  I am  concerned,  I do 
not  need  religion — it  would  rather  be  in  the  way. 
Probably  there  would  be  times  and  occasions  when 
it  would  be  seriously  inconvenient  to  have  too  much 
religion  ; it  might  frustrate  and  destroy  all  my 
plans.  Now,  if  I was  weak  and  sickly,  if  I came  of 
a consumptive  family,  if  I was  a woman,  I would 
be  religious  ; but  as  I am  going  to  be  a public  man, 
to  be  a leader  of  my  fellow-men,  I will  wait  for  my 
religion  until  the  doctor  tells  me  that  there  is  not 
more  than  an  hour  and  a half  left,  and  then,  of 
course,  some  kind  of  preparation  must  be  made  for 
the  next  world.”  O,  vain  young  man  ! O,  foolish 
young  man  ! O,  presumptuous  young  man  ! Re- 
ligion is  a necessity,  even  to  you,  and  you  will  find 
it  an  inspiration,  a constant  stimulus  and  help. 
Gladstone’s  religion  has  never  been  inconvenient 
to  him,  Washington’s  religion  was  never  inconven- 
ient to  him,  Henry  Wilson’s  religion  was  never  in- 
convenient to  him,  Garfield's  religion  was  never 
inconvenient  to  him,  Benjamin  Harrison’s  religion 
was  never  inconvenient  to  him.  You  can  win  any 
prize  that  can  fairly  be  won,  you  can  fill  any  hon- 
orable position  for  which  you  find  yourself  fitted, 
you  can  wield  any  noble  form  of  influence  which 


52 


Christian  Manliness. 


you  covet,  and  at  the  same  time  keep  your  soul 
unspotted  from  the  world  under  the  leadership  of 
Jesus  Christ.  We  need  a race  of  public  men  who 
are  afraid  to  do  wrong  ; we  need  a race  of  public 
men  who  love  the  right  ; we  need  a generation  of 
public  men  who  have  faith  in  the  final  supremacy 
of  right ; we  need  a generation  of  public  men  who 
will  recognize  their  brotherhood  with  Jesus  Christ, 
and  by  the  presence  and  inspiration  of  his  Spirit 
walk  in  his  footsteps,  even  if,  as  in  his  case,  the 
path  of  duty  should  lead  to  the  cross.  Manliness 
in  public  life  after  the  manner  of  Jesus — herein  may 
the  God  of  our  fathers  make  and  keep  us  strong ! 


Jesus  and  the  Great  Masters  of  Literature.  53 


JESUS  AND  THE  GREAT  MASTERS  OF 
LITERATURE. 

Then  went  the  Pharisees,  and  took  counsel  how  they  might 
entangle  him  in  his  talk.  And  they  sent  out  unto  him  their  disci- 
ples with  the  Herodians,  saying,  Master,  we  know  that  thou  art 
true,  and  teachest  the  way  of  God  in  truth,  neither  carest  thou  for 
any  man  : for  thou  regardest  not  the  person  of  men. — Matt, 

xxii,  15,  16. 

Literature  is  the  written  record  of  the  inner 
life  of  a people.  It  is  the  hived-up  wisdom,  the 
concentrated  light  and  sweetness,  of  many  genera- 
tions of  men.  It  is,  as  has  been  said  by  one  who 
is  himself  a master  of  literature,  “ the  best  thoughts 
of  the  best  minds  through  many  generations.”  It 
is  the  thought-product  of  the  clearest,  most  pene- 
trating, and  most  sympathetic  insight  of  the  natures 
most  rarely  and  richly  endowed.  It  is  an  account 
or  reflex  of  the  life  of  a people,  not  simply  of  their 
rulers,  political  or  ecclesiastical ; not  of  the  doings 
of  the  court  or  the  legislature  ; not  a recital  of  the 
great  events  of  war,  diplomacy,  or  finance,  but  what 
the  people  thought  and  felt  and  did.  Neither  is  it 
the  expression  or  picture  of  the  external,  physical 
conditions  of  the  life  of  the  people.  You  have  not 
given  a true  account  of  a man  when  you  have  told 
how  high  he  is,  what  the  color  of  his  hair  is,  what 
food  he  eats,  and  what  kind  of  a house  he  lives  in. 


54 


Christian  Manliness . 


The  deepest  and  best  part  of  every  man’s  life,  and 
of  every  nation’s  life,  is  inner,  silent,  invisible. 
Suppose  we  could  preserve  and  reproduce  with 
fidelity  the  material  conditions  of  life  exactly  as 
they  existed  in  England,  say  five  hundred  years 
ago.  By  literature  we  are  enabled  to  do  this  for  the 
real,  inner,  soul-life  of  a people.  Literature  is  the 
attempt  to  express,  in  one  form  or  another,  in  his- 
tory, oration,  poem,  drama,  or  fiction,  the  deep  in- 
ner life  of  a great  people.  There  is  required  for 
the  accomplishment  of  this  task  the  supreme  qual- 
ity which  we  describe  by  the  word  “ genius,”  and 
genius  is  good  sense,  quick  sympathy,  patient  labor, 
clear  insight,  the  capacity  to  think  naturally,  spon- 
taneously, powerfully,  fruitfully.  Genius  lights  its 
own  fires. 

The  spirit  of  Christian  manliness  discloses  its 
presence  and  power  in  literature  in  many  ways. 
It  does  it,  in  the  first  place,  by  its  superiority 
to  the  peculiar  temptations  which  present  them- 
selves to  the  qualities  of  the  mind  required  to  cre- 
ate, inspire,  and  mold  a literature.  If  it  be  given 
to  those  who  aspire  to  create  a literature  to  see  far- 
ther into  the  reality  of  life,  the  truth  of  things,  than 
other  men,  it  is  also  required  of  them  that  they 
truly  and  faithfully  report  back  what  they  see. 
The  temptation  is  always  present  to  bring  back  a 
distorted  report,  or  a partial  report,  or  an  untrue 
report,  and  therein  manhood,  as  it  appears  in  litera- 
ture and  has  its  battle  to  fight  there,  must  bring 
back,  must  describe  what  actually  exists,  and  not 


Jesus  and  the  Great  Masters  of  Literature.  55 

what  an  aberrant  or  eccentric  genius  thinks  should 
be  there.  A genuine,  honest  report  from  the  depths 
of  human  life  is  required  of  the  genius  that  would 
assert  its  claim  to  manhood  in  the  highest  realms  of 
intellectual  activity.  Manliness  in  literature  must 
conform  to  ^ts  own  high  and  glowing  ideals,  and  it 
must  give  us,  not  what  we  indolently  wish,  but 
what  we  clearly  need,  for  our  soul's  health.  It  must 
have  the  clear  insight  necessary  to  discern  between 
the  idle  want  and  the  spiritual  need,  and  the  cour- 
age to  show  us  the  latter. 

Genius  must  also,  in  the  realm  of  literature,  show 
itself  to  be  courageous  in  the  presence  of  difficulties. 
Genius  may  find  itself  poor,  but  poverty  affords  no 
sufficient  ground  for  the  flight  of  genius  from  its 
difficult  and  lonely  duties.  One  may  find  himself 
slenderly  equipped  in  this  world’s  goods  not  only, 
but  his  lot  and  work  cast  in  a political  society  in 
which  birth  and  rank  and  wealth  take  precedence 
of  capacity,  virtue,  and  worth.  But  genius,  if  it  be 
true  to  the  noble  ideals  of  a lofty  spiritual  man- 
hood, must  not  yield  to  these  adverse  elements,  but 
in  all  its  efforts  to  describe  and  paint  the  thought- 
life  of  a people  rise  gloriously  superior  to  all  that 
is  narrowing,  cramping,  and  confining. 

Genius  in  literature,  indeed  in  every  realm  in 
which  it  works,  but  here  especially,  must  not  only 
acknowledge  in  general  terms  the  law  of  moral  ob- 
ligation, but  must  confess  the  gradations  of  that 
law,  its  intensification,  its  increasing  stringency,  in 
proportion  to  the  greatness  of  one’s  light,  oppor- 


56 


Christian  Manliness . 


tunity,  and  gifts.  Genius — that  is,  opulence  of  in- 
tellectual endowment — instead  of  being  an  excuse 
for  falseness,  cruelty,  and  immorality,  creates  addi- 
tional obligation,  multiplies  and  sharpens  the  rea- 
sons for  a higher  morality  and  a purer  spirituality 
on  the  part  of  the  gifted  man.  “ For  unto  whom- 
soever much  is  given,  of  him  shall  much  be  re- 
quired.’’ 

The  three  elements  heretofore  defined  as  entering 
into  Christian  manliness  and  constituting  its  very 
life  appear  here;  namely,  courage,  dutifulness,  love. 
Following  our  course  on  preceding  evenings,  let  us 
take  some  practical  illustration  of  what  we  mean  by 
this.  When,  in  the  year  1826,  the  American  writer 
and  scholar,  William  H.  Prescott,  found  himself  in 
practical  possession  of  the  material  necessary  to 
write  his  history  of  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella he  lost  his  eyesight,  and  had  no  prospect  of 
ever  again  recovering  it.  This  was  a serious  dis- 
couragement and  difficulty,  and  one  apparently  in- 
surmountable, but  it  was  not  to  conquer  the  man 
who  had  consecrated  himself  to  write  the  history  of 
that  great  time.  He  was  not  appalled  ; nor  was  he 
more  than  temporarily  discouraged.  He  first  hired 
a reader,  and  sat  in  a darkened  room  listening  for 
hours  to  a man  who  knew  no  modern  language  but 
the  Spanish  ; and  thus  he  worked  his  way  through 
several  venerable  quartos  until  he  was  satisfied  of 
the  feasibility  of  his  task.  After  a time,  discharging 
the  reader,  he  dictated  to  a more  competent  man, 
and  worked  on  as  best  he  could  until,  by  “ the 


Jesus  and  the  Great  Masters  of  Literature . 57 

blessing  of  Providence,”  to  use  his  own  words,  his 
eyes  recovered  sufficient  strength  to  allow  him  to 
use  them,  and,  by  working  a limited  number  of 
hours  each  day,  he  gradually  surmounted  all  these 
difficulties,  and  enriched  American  literature  with 
that  delightful  and  fascinating  history.  The  loss  of 
eyesight  by  this  gifted  man  only  proved  to  be  an 
occasion  for  the  victorious  assertion  of  the  finer  and 
nobler  qualities  of  his  character. 

William  Wordsworth  declared  that  he  was  not  so 
much  called  as  consecrated  ; that  he  was  not  certain 
that  he  had  ever  made  any  vows  for  himself,  but  he 
was  sure  that  somebody  had  made  vows  for  him, 
and  “he  felt  himself  a c5nsecrated  spirit.”  His 
mission — what  did  he  feel  it  to  be  ? That  he  should 
leave  the  crowded  towns  and  go  to  the  country, 
where  he  could  find  green  grass  and  hills  and  lakes 
and  mountains,  and  live  a simple  and  uncorrupt 
life  ; that  he  should  patiently  and  reverently  study 
his  own  heart  and  the  hearts  of  the  plain  people 
about  him  ; so  living,  that  he  should  write  simple 
and  natural  poetry,  and  he  declared  that  he  had  a 
vocation  to  do  this;  that  almighty  God  had  conse- 
crated him  to  that  work.  When,  after  some  years, 
he  failed  to  receive  any  public  recognition,  and  his 
friends  and  the  members  of  his  family,  especially  his 
brothers,  were  restless  because  of  this  lack  of  appre- 
ciation, he  said,  “ Make  yourselves  at  rest  concerning 
me  ; I speak  the  truths  whose  power  the  world  must 
feel  at  last.”  In  eight  years  not  a single  edition  of 
his  early  poems  could  be  sold  in  the  English  market. 


58 


Christian  Manliness . 


When  Cottle,  a bookseller  in  Bristol,  conveyed  his 
property  to  the  Messrs.  Longman,  of  London,  the 
only  volume  marked  on  the  inventory  as  worth 
“nil”  was  a book  containing  “The  Ancient  Mar- 
iner,” bv  Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge,  and  the  lines  of 
Wordsworth  on  “ Revisiting  Tintern  Abbey.”  He 
waited,  and  worked,  and  thought,  and  walked  by  the 
side  of  the  mountain  streamlet,  and  looked  into  the 
open  faces  of  the  mountain  children,  and  talked  to 
the  peasant  in  the  fields,  and  watched  the  procession 
of  the  clouds  in  the  sky,  and  listened  to  the  storm- 
winds,  and  kept  his  soul  open  to  all  the  voices  of 
God.  He  educated  a generation  to  appreciate  his 
poetry,  and  all  natural  poetry.  At  last  they  sent  for 
him  at  Oxford,  and  in  the  ancient  theater  of  that 
splendid  university,  in  the  presence  of  more  than 
three  thousand  people,  clad  in  a scarlet  robe,  Oxford 
honored  itself  by  conferring  upon  him  its  honorary 
degree.  A little  later  Sir  Robert  Peel,  the  Prime 
Minister  of  England,  extended  to  him  the  laureate- 
ship  of  England.  What  a change  since  the  time 
when  Byron  sneered  at  him,  and  the  Edinburgh  Re- 
view threatened  to  crush  him  ! He  had  fought  his 
fight  and  won  his  battle,  and  the  world  was  made  to 
feel  the  power  and  reality  of  the  truths  he  had  to 
utter.  He  was  true  to  his  early  and  consecrated 
ideal  of  life  and  poetry ; he  waited,  like  our  own 
Emerson,  for  the  world  to  come  round  to  him,  in- 
stead of  running  round  after  the  world. 

In  1825,  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  at  the  height  of  his 
splendid  fame.  He  had  given  to  the  world  his  great 


Jesus  and  the  Great  Masters  of  Literature,  59 

works  of  poetry,  and  had  delighted  it  with  his  mas- 
terpieces of  fiction.  His  farm  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tweed,  at  first  scarcely  a hundred  acres,  had  grown 
to  be  a large  estate.  The  plain  dwelling,  with  its 
two  spare  bedrooms,  had  expanded  to  the  ample 
proportions  of  a noble  baronial  castle.  Here  he 
lived  in  affluence,  splendor,  joy.  In  the  morning 
he  wrote,  not  under  the  spur  and  lash,  not  chafed 
and  fretted,  but  according  to  the  free  inspirations 
of  his  glorious  genius.  Then  dinner  with  his  friends 
(and  his  house  was  always  full  of  them),  and  in  the 
afternoon  society  and  recreation.  It  has  been  said 
that  no  mansion  in  Europe  for  so  long  a term  of 
years  so  hospitably  and  graciously  entertained  so 
large  a number  of  distinguished  guests.  In  1826 
the  printing-house  of  Ballantyne,  in  Edinburgh, 
in  which  he  was  largely  interested,  failed,  and  it 
seemed  as  though  he  was  hopelessly  involved.  He 
was  humbled  before  the  great  world  that  had  so 
long  admired  and  praised  and  honored  him.  He 
was  covered  with  debt,  well-nigh  beggared.  There 
were  those,  versed  in  the  law,  who  advised  him  that, 
by  resorting  to  certain  legal  stratagems,  he  could 
escape  the  claims  of  his  creditors.  See  his  manhood  ! 
He  refuses  to  be  dealt  with  as  an  ordinary  bankrupt. 
He  thrusts  aside  the  legal  temptation  with  noble 
scorn,  not  having  learned  the  modern  idea  of  escap- 
ing a moral  obligation  by  a legal  trick.  Hear  him  : 
“Give  me  time,  and  I will  pay  all/’  Then  began 
the  fearful  struggle.  He  leaves  his  invalid  wife  and 
his  splendid  home,  goes  to  Edinburgh,  hires  small 


6o 


Christian  Manliness . 


lodgings,  and  writes  to  pay  his  debts.  From  his 
fertile  brain  and  unresting  hands  comes  book  after 
book,  until  in  a few  years  the  mountain  of  debt  be- 
gins sensibly  to  diminish.  And  when  at  last  his 
brain  gave  way,  and  they  took  him  to  Italy  in  the 
vain  hope  of  restoring  his  health,  in  the  wanderings 
of  his  great  mind  he  still  kept  murmuring  about 
paying  the  debt,  and  after  his  death  it  was  found 
that  he  had  worked  hard  enough  to  pay  every  pound 
of  it.  Did  he  die?  Do  such  men  really  die  ? Does 
the  blatant  infidelity  of  this  time  tell  me  that  such 
men  go  out  in  utter  oblivion?  Is  extinction  the 
appointed  doom  of  a great  soul  like  this?  Then 
God  is  dead,  and  life  is  a lie.  Such  men  must  mas- 
ter death,  or  there  is  no  moral  order  in  the  universe. 

I heartily  rejoice  that  all  the  stories  about  the 
immoral  youth  of  “ gentle  Will  Shakespeare  ” have 
at  last  been  exploded,  and  that  he,  the  greatest  of 
all  the  writers  in  our  English  tongue,  has  been 
found  at  last,  by  a most  eminent  authority  on  En- 
glish literature,  to  have  lived  a dutiful,  clean,  sweet, 
wholesome  life.  Married  at  eighteen  to  a woman 
eight  years  his  senior,  at  twenty-two  years  of  age  his 
father  was  threatened  with  imprisonment  for  debt ; 
the  next  year  he  was  arrested,  and  he  who  was  once 
a bailiff  is  now  haunted  by  bailiffs.  His  father’s 
family  was  large,  and  the  son  had  a wife  and  three 
children  to  provide  for,  so  he  went  up  to  London 
for  work.  At  what  he  worked  in  the  six  years  that 
followed  his  arrival  in  that  city  not  much  is  known. 
This  much  is  known  : that  he  worked  his  way  man- 


Jesus  and  the  Great  Masters  of  Literature.  6 1 

fully  to  the  front ; that  as  soon  as  he  began  to  pros- 
per his  father  was  remembered  by  having  a good 
allowance  settled  upon  him  ; that  Ann  Hathaway 
and  his  children  were  moved  to  the  best  house  on 
the  main  street  of  Stratford  ; that  William  Shakes- 
peare visited  them  year  after  year;  that  he  was  the 
first  man  in  the  history  of  English  literature  ever 
known  to  have  saved  a single  cent  out  of  his  earn- 
ings as  an  author,  and  that,  having  acquired  a fair 
competency,  he  returned  to  Stratford  to  live  and 
die  with  his  wife  and  children,  and  father  and 
mother.  This  is  the  true  record  of  the  private  life 
of  the  great  poet.  No  man  can  doubt  the  moral 
health  of  Shakespeare  who,  with  open  eye  and  un- 
prejudiced mind,  has  studied  his  writings.  Where 
does  he  give  security  to  wrong-doing  ? Does  he 
not  in  every  drama  conduct  us  at  last  to  the  tri- 
umph of  righteousness?  Does  he  not  strengthen 
for  us  the  ethical  foundations  of  life?  Where  does 
sin  stain  as  on  the  pages  of  Shakespeare  ? Where 
is  conscience  armed  with  such  terrific  power? 
Where  is  retribution  so  just,  so  certain,  so  over- 
whelming ? 

The  spirit  of  Jesus  is  present  in  all  sound  and  en- 
during literature.  The  spirit  of  Jesus,  I say;  not 
his  name,  necessarily,  nor  is  it  well  that  it  should  be. 
Reverence  in  literature  is  no  more  betokened  by 
the  frequent  use  of  the  name  of  Jesus  than  superior 
piety  is  indicated  by  a constant  use  of  that  word  in 
ordinary  conversation.  Where  genuine  reverence 
exists  names  are  sparingly  used  ; but  more  and  more 


62 


Christian  Manliness . 


the  spirit  of  Jesus  pervades  all  healthy,  wholesome, 
inspiring  literature.  How  do  you  detect  its  pres- 
ence? Have  you  ever  read  a book  that  distinctly 
lowered  your  moral  tone?  His  spirit  was  not  there. 
Have  you  ever  read  an  essay,  or  a poem,  or  a novel 
— have  you  ever  read  any  thing  anywhere — that 
glossed  over  the  eternal  distinction  between  right 
and  wrong?  The  spirit  of  Jesus  was  not  in  it.  Have 
you  ever,  after  reading  a book,  risen  from  it  with  a 
cold,  a contemptuous  and  cynical  view  of  man  ? The 
spirit  of  Jesus  was  not  in  it.  Have  you  ever  read  a 
book  that  seemed  to  take  all  spiritual  glow  from  off 
the  land  and  the  sea,  and  from  the  great  infinite 
blue  above?  The  spirit  of  Jesus  was  not  there,  for 
his  presence  and  spirit  consecrate  and  hallow  all 
things.  Have  you  ever,  as  the  result  of  your  read- 
ing, felt  that  your  faith  was  withering,  that  the  invis- 
ible, eternal  realities  were  becoming  dim,  vague,  un- 
real? The  spirit  of  Jesus  was  not  there.  When- 
ever you  have  read  a book,  whether  the  writer  was 
regular  or  irregular,  pronounced  orthodox  or  heter- 
odox by  those  who  assume  to  make  these  distinc- 
tions ; whenever  you  have  read  a book  that  has  made 
you  reverence  men  and  women  and  children  more, 
deepened  your  love  for  liberty  and  truth  and  pur- 
ity, increased  your  power  of  moral  discrimination, 
augmented  moral  energy ; whenever  you  have  read 
a book  that  made  God  more  real  and  potent,  a pres- 
ent strength  and  solace,  a book  that  made  you  strong 
in  the  abiding  faith  that  death  would  not  shatter 
and  destroy  man,  but  be  to  him  a translation  and 


Jesus  ami  the  Great  Masters  of  Literature.  C3 

a coronation,  then  you  have  read  a book  instinct 
with  the  very  spirit  of  Jesus;  and  this  spirit  is  the 
life  of  literature.  Where  it  is  absent  the  literature 
hastens  to  decay,  where  it  is  present  the  literature 
is  assured  of  immortality. 

Every  great  literature  has  its  distinctive  charac- 
teristics. If  a people  be  dreamy,  subtle,  patient, 
contemplative,  their  literature  will  partake  of  these 
elements.  Such  is  the  character  of  the  Hindu  mind, 
and  such  is  the  character  of  the  Hindu  literature. 
If  a people  be  light,  airy,  gay,  given  to  pleasure, 
their  literature  will  be  light,  airy,  gay,  and  it  will 
apotheosize  pleasure.  The  French  people  are  such 
a people,  and  the  French  people  have  produced 
such  a literature.  If  a people  be  reflective,  given 
to  inquiry  into  the  reason  of  things,  acute,  pene- 
trating, painstaking,  philosophic,  then  you  will  find 
a solid,  massive  literature,  dealing  with  the  greatest 
problems  in  the  most  earnest,  thorough,  and  rever- 
ent way.  Such  a people  are  the  Germans,  and  such 
is  the  literature  of  the  Fatherland.  The  distinctive 
characteristic  of  English  literature  is  its  moral  vigor, 
its  moral  sanity,  its  moral  wholesomeness  and  sweet- 
ness. There  are  spots  on  the  sun,  but  that  which 
marks  off  the  English  from  all  other  literatures  is 
its  sense  of  duty  to  be  done.  It  is  not  deficient  in 
other  qualities.  In  fancy,  in  satire  and  wit,  in  fire 
and  energy  and  strength,  in  boldness  of  imagination, 
in  passion  and  pathos,  in  splendor  and  majesty  of 
expression,  in  a certain  lofty,  resounding  eloquence, 
it  is  a literature  worthy  of  the  immortality  to  which 


64 


Christian  Manliness. 


it  seems  destined.  These  qualities,  however,  do  not 
constitute  its  peculiar  power,  its  crowning  glory. 
The  true  glory  of  the  literature  of  England  has 
been  well  expressed  by  one  who  says  that  it  “ rep- 
resents a people  striving  through  successive  genera- 
tions to  find  out  the  right  and  do  it,  to  root  out 
the  wrong,  and  labor  ever  onward  for  the  love  of 
God.”  The  English  still  believe,  and  have  always 
believed,  that  to  fear  God  and  keep  his  command- 
ments was  the  whole  duty  of  man.  Hence  the 
moral  robustness  of  their  literature ; hence  their 
hatred  of  wrong  and  injustice,  and  their  noble  de- 
votion to  liberty  and  law. 

Their  earliest  poet,  Caedmon,  had  the  fear  of  God 
before  his  eyes,  and  sang  of  God,  and  of  duty  to 
God,  in  the  first  great  English  hymn.  The  sweet 
and  gentle  Aldhelm,  as  early  as  the  seventh  century, 
testified  to  the  English  sense  of  duty  by  taking  his 
stand  on  the  bridge  between  the  town  and  country, 
and  singing  a song  to  keep  the  people  from  running 
home  from  church  directly  after  mass,  without  wait- 
ing for  the  sermon.  The  Venerable  Bede,  the  first 
of  English  prose  writers,  died  praying,  and  dictating 
to  one  of  his  students  a new  translation  of  the  gos- 
pel of  John  into  English.  The  wise  and  good  King 
Alfred,  by  his  translation  of  the  Consolations  of 
Boethius , confessed  that  we  men  need  inward 
strengthening  as  well  as  outward  comfort.  The 
scene  of  the  Decameron  of  Boccaccio  is  laid  in  a 
beautiful  garden,  not  far  from  the  plague-stricken 
city  of  Florence,  and  his  characters  while  away  the 


Jesus  and  the  Great  Masters  of  Literature.  65 

time  by  telling  witty  and  disgusting  stories  while 
their  friends  are  smitten  with  the  plague.  That  is, 
his  characters  are  represented  as  running  away  from 
their  duty.  The  pilgrims  of  Chaucer’s  Canterbury 
Tales  are  on  their  way  to  the  shrine  of  Thomas  a 
Becket,  and,  with  their  light  in  that  age,  that  to 
them  was  a service  of  duty.  The  Utopia  of  Sir 
Thomas  More  was  a dream  of  moral  excellence  and 
spiritual  beauty,  rather  than  of  physical  comfort 
and  political  progress.  In  his  songs  and  his  ro- 
mance of  Arcadia , in  his  life  and  in  his  death,  Sir 
Philip  Sidney  acknowledged  and  obeyed  the  high 
behests  of  duty.  The  Faery  Queen  of  Spenser  is 
simply  a magnificent  poetic  exaltation  of  holiness, 
justice,  chastity,  temperance,  and  friendship.  Where, 
in  all  literature,  is  there  any  thing  comparable  with 
Shakespeare’s  awful  descriptions  of  the  power  of  an 
awakened  conscience?  In  the  guilty  terror  of  Mac- 
beth, in  the  sleep-walking  of  Lady  Macbeth,  in  the 
ghosts  that  troubled  the  dreams  of  Richard  the 
night  before  the  battle  of  Bosworth  Field,  and  bid 
him  despair  and  die,  in  the  baffled  prayer  of  Clau- 
dius, in  the  tragic  revenge  of  Hamlet,  in  all  his 
mighty  dramas,  the  lesson  is  ever  the  same  : 

“ Be  just  and  fear  not : 

Let  all  the  ends  thou  aimest  at  be  thy  country’s, 

Thy  God’s,  and  truth’s  ; then,  if  thou  fall’st, 

Thou  fall’st  a blessed  martyr.” 

There  is  no  sickly  sentiment  in  Shakespeare.  The 
wrong-doer  hastens  on  to  an  inevitable  and  awful 
fate.  There  is  no  safety  but  in  righteousness.  Mil- 


66 


Christian  Manliness. 


ton’s  whole  life  was  a noble  psalm  of  duty,  and 
every  line  he  wrote  testifies  to  his  loyalty  to  the 
highest  right  he  knew.  When  old  and  poor  and 
blind  and  deserted,  he  did  not  “ bate  a jot  of  heart 
or  hope,”  but  he  still  bore  up,  and  steered  right  on- 
ward. The  purity  of  Addison’s  style  is  equaled  by 
the  purity  of  his  heart,  and  the  delicacy  of  his  wit 
is  surpassed  by  the  delicacy  of  his  moral  percep- 
tions. Old  Dr.  Johnson  was  perpetually  teaching 
that  men  must  do  right  if  they  would  be  happy. 
The  poetry  of  Wordsworth  has  for  its  chief  end  the 
exaltation  of  the  humble  duties  of  every-day  life 
and  work.  Macaulay  does  not  allow  his  admira- 
tion for  Bacon,  the  philosopher,  to  obscure  his  per- 
ception of  the  moral  obliquity  of  Bacon,  the  judge. 
Wrong  is  wrong,  even  if  Bacon  commits  it.  Ten- 
nyson sings  to  the  men  who  are  doubters  to-day 
that  it  is  only  by  unfaltering  devotion  to  duty  that 
they  may  hope  to  enter  into  light  and  peace.  To 
hate  falseness,  to  fight  shams,  to  get  the  evil  out  of 
our  hearts  and  out  of  the  world,  to  be  true,  honest, 
faithful,  earnest,  sincere  —this  is  the  teaching  and 
preaching  of  the  much-misunderstood  sage  of  Chel- 
sea. A sense  of  God,  of  our  capacity  to  know  him, 
of  our  ability  to  obey  him,  of  our  happiness  if  we  do 
so,  of  our  misery  if  we  follow  the  devices  of  our 
own  hearts,  in  short,  the  supremacy  of  conscience, 
the  sovereignty  of  duty — this  it  is  which  has  made 
the  English  people  great  and  the  English  literature 
immortal. 

American  literature  is  not  unworthy  of  its  high 


Jesus  and  the  Great  Masters  of  Literature . 67 

descent.  It,  too,  sings  the  songs  of  duty  and  right. 
Its  voice  is  not  that  of  a siren.  It  charms  to  invig- 
orate and  strengthen,  not  to  debilitate  and  destroy. 
It  is  full  of  moral  vigor  and  health.  It  is  clean, 
wholesome,  inspiring.  Its  masters  have  ever  been 
the  servants,  not  the  hirelings,  of  truth.  Whittier 
and  Longfellow  and  Holmes  and  Bryant  and  Haw- 
thorne and  Emerson  and  Prescott  and  Irving  and 
Lowell  and  Curtis  and  Holland  have  all  the  same 
lesson  to  teach — we  must  obey  God  if  we  would  be- 
come and  remain  strong,  wise,  and  free.  I covet 
for  the  creators  and  guides  of  our  literature  all  rare 
gifts  of  genius,  all  wealth  of  fancy,  all  wisdom  of 
thought,  all  fire  of  eloquence,  all  felicity  of  expres- 
sion, but  chiefly  do  I pray  that  they,  and  all  writers 
every-where,  may  never  fail  to  teach  that  wrong  at 
last  shall  be  overtaken  and  punished,  and  right 
shall  be  eternally  triumphant.  The  ultimate  sover- 
eignty in  literature  belongs  to  manhood  ! 


68 


Christian  Manliness. 


GREAT  MEN  IN  HISTORY. 

For  all  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  lust  of 
the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life,  is  not  of  fhe  Father,  but  is  of  the 
world.  And  the  world  passeth  away,  and  the  lust  thereof:  but  he 
that  doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  forever. — I John  ii,  16,  17. 

Ti-IE  history  of  man  on  this  globe  has  hitherto 
been  largely  that  of  an  animal ; he  has  lived  in  the 
realm  of  the  present,  the  physical,  the  seen,  and  the 
temporal.  The  immediate,  not  the  remote,  the 
present,  not  the  future,  that  which  solicits  him  now, 
the  food  that  his  eyes,  and  his  ears,  and  his  mouth, 
and  his  stomach  crave — these  things,  and  not  the 
opening  up,  the  enrichment,  and  the  satisfaction  of 
his  reasoning  faculties,  his  moral  sentiments,  and 
his  spiritual  capacities;  the  things  that  are  present, 
palpable,  physical — food,  lands,  dress,  houses,  mon- 
ey, empire — in  these  elements,  and  along  these  lines, 
man  has  hitherto  been  largely  content  to  have  his 
life.  It  is  a sad  reflection  that  the  majority  of  men 
live  in  that  realm  still.  I am  not  a phrenologist, 
certainly  not  a practical  phrenologist,  but  I see 
many  men  whose  heads  and  necks  greatly  belie 
them  if  they  are  not  thralled  by  the  physical  and 
animal  elements  of  their  natures;  many  men  in  whom 
“the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and 
the  pride  of  life  ” make  up  the  whole  existence. 
How  narrow,  dwarfed,  shriveled  is  the  spirit-life  of 


Great  Men  in  History . 


69 


most  men  ! There  is  reason  to  fear  that  many  so- 
called  religious  people,  stripped  of  all  their  present 
secular  activities  and  physical  enjoyments,  would 
find  themselves  at  a loss  for  congenial  occupation. 
What  would  you  do  if  you  dici  not  have  to  make 
your  bread  and  butter?  How  would  you  spend 
your  time?  In  what  direction  would  your  energies 
seek  vent  ? Suppose  you  did  not  have  to  work  ten 
or  twelve  hours  to  morrow,  what  would  you  do? 
When  men  sit  down  seriously  to  reflect  upon  how 
short  the  distance  is  that  measures  the  length  of 
our  journey  away  from  the  animal,  it  is  rather  a so- 
bering thought.  Consider  this  one  fact:  that  the 
most  glittering  prizes  of  the  most  enlightened  and 
civilized  states  of  the  Christian  world  are  still  given 
to  great  soldiers.  France  gave  the  best  she  had  to 
Napoleon  ; there  was  nothing  England  had  whi.ch  she 
withheld  from  Wellington  ; there  was  nothing  that 
we  had  which  we  withheld  from  Grant ; we  were  on 
the  very  verge  of  violating  the  unwritten  tradition 
against  a third  term,  in  order  to  heap  still  greater 
honors  upon  him.  A great  soldier  (stripped  of  all 
honeyed  phraseology)  means  a man  who  has  been 
pre-eminently  successful  in  killing  his  fellow-men. 
Of  course  we  disguise  it  by  fine  talk  about  liberty 
and  progress,  and  self-defense  as  the  first  law  of  nat- 
ure, and  a great  many  other  high-sounding  phrases, 
but,  stripped  of  all  these  thin  veils  and  outer  wrap- 
pings, a great  soldier  simply  means  the  man  who 
can  most  successfully  kill  in  the  shortest  possible 
time  the  greatest  number  of  his  fellow-men  ; and 


;o 


Christian  Manliness. 


that  kind  of  a man  has  within  his  grasp  the  most 
solid,  splendid,  and  enduring  guerdons  which  may  be 
bestowed  upon  him  by  the  most  highly  civilized 
states.  It  is  as  Gibbon  has  said,  in  substance,  in 
his  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire , the  de- 
stroyers of  mankind  have  been  esteemed  its  greatest 
benefactors,  and  have  received  its  greatest  honors. 

How  great  a part  cunning  has  played  in  the 
world  ! In  recent  times  we  have  called  it  “ diplo- 
macy,” but  diplomacy  for  thousands  of  years  meant 
a match  game  of  cunning  ; the  greatest  deceiver,  the 
man  who  could  tell  the  biggest  and  most  plausible  lie 
and  make  it  to  appear  so  like  the  truth  as  to  ensnare 
his  antagonist  was  the  best  diplomatist.  Diplomacy 
for  many  centuries  was  simply  a game  of  cunning, 
and  the  man  who  was  the  most  foxy  won  the  victory. 

What  a part  greed  has  played  in  the  world  ! By 
greed  I mean  covetousness;  an  inordinate  and  con- 
suming desire  for  wealth.  How  strong  is  the  pas- 
sion for  possession!  The  a yellow”  fever,  how  it 
has  burned  in  the  veins  of  men  ! The  greatest 
peril  of  the  republic  at  this  hour  springs  from  the 
selfish  and  corrupt  use  of  money.  The  United 
States  Senate  is  very  rapidly  becoming  a plutocratic 
body.  I do  not  know  how  many  Senators  are  there 
now  who  are  supposed  to  represent  the  various 
Pacific  railroads.  We  read  of  men  representing  this 
railroad  and  that  railroad,  this  corporation  and  that 
corporation,  this  important  interest  and  the  other 
important  interest ; and  if  the  Legislatures  should 
select  another  group  of  senators  such  as  they  have 


Great  Men  in  History . 


7i 


elected  for  a number  of  years,  we  shall  have  made 
our  Senate  a plutocratic  body — a body  of  patricians, 
founded  not  upon  blood,  not  upon  brains,  not  upon 
character,  but  upon  the  power  of  “ money  in  poli- 
tics.” Consider  how  much  a lucrative  office  in  New 
York  costs,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  men 
who  are  familiar  with  the  “ assessments  ” made  upon 
candidates  by  the  various  “ halls  ” and  “bosses” 
who  control  this  great  city.  Go  back  three  thou- 
sand years,  before  there  had  been  given  to  the  world 
any  of  the  refining  and  spiritualizing  influences 
which  spring  from  a pure  Christianity,  and  what 
must  the  great  soldier  have  been  then?  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  men  bowed  down  and  worshiped  him 
and  made  him  a god  ? We  almost  do  it  now.  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  in  those  early  times  the  strong 
or  the  cunning  man  ruled  the  tribe?  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  wealth  had  such  corrupting  and  de- 
bauching power? 

Have  you  ever  remarked  how  potent  was  the  in- 
fluence of  commanding  talent  or  genius,  without 
any  regard  to  its  moral  character?  We  may  ad- 
mire the  work  of  the  men  who  have  made  the  can- 
vas breathe,  and  the  marble  speak,  and  the  flowing 
numbers  entrance  the  nations,  but  it  will  not  always 
do  to  look  too  closely  into  their  lives.  Not  seldom 
their  rank  offenses  have  smelt  to  heaven.  Jesus 
said,  “ the  first  shall  be  last,  and  the  last  shall  be 
first.”  I recall  a circumstance  which  deeply  im- 
pressed this  truth  on  my  mind.  I was  called  to 
the  funeral  of  a godly  woman,  one  who  had  lived 


72 


Christian  Manliness . 


a modest,  humble,  dutiful  life.  There  was  nothing 
in  the  morning  papers  about  her  life  or  death. 
There  was  something  in  them  as  to  who  should  be 
Marshal  of  northern  Alabama;  there  was  a good 
deal  on  district  representation ; there  was  a good 
deal  about  where  the  next  National  Democratic 
Convention  should  be  held  ; there  was  the  usual 
full  account  of  burglaries,  defalcations,  divorces,  and 
murders ; but,  of  course,  not  one  word  about  this 
woman’s  life  of  toil  and  duty  and  beauty.  A good 
many  years  ago  she  found  herself  with  five  boys, 
the  oldest  not  twelve  years,  the  youngest  sixteen 
days  old,  face  to  face  with  the  world,  in  poverty 
to  feed  and  clothe  them,  to  teach  them  the  lessons 
of  truth,  purity,  and  wisdom.  It  was  a long  and 
severe  struggle,  away  from  the  world’s  applauding 
eye,  but  she  did  her  work  well.  As  I sat  in  the 
ferry-boat,  I did  not  see  any  public  building  draped 
in  mourning;  I heard  neither  boom  of  cannon  nor 
roll  of  drum  ; I beheld  no  external  indication  that 
this  brave  and  earnest  life  had  come  to  an  end. 
And  yet  she  succeeded  ; her  life  was  a glorious 
success.  When  is  a life  a success?  When  we  do 
well  what  God  sent  us  here  to  do.  Garfield  suc- 
ceeded when  General  Buell  sent  him  with  twenty- 
five  hundred  men  into  south-western  Kentucky,  to 
drive  out  Humphrey  Marshall  with  five  thousand. 
He  did  the  work  he  had  been  sent  to  do,  and  they 
made  him  a brigadier-general.  This  woman  did 
what  God  had  appointed  her  to  do,  and  by  so  do- 
ing she  glorified  him  on  the  earth,  and  is  now  gone 


Great  Men  in  History . 


73 


to  enjoy  him  forever.  Do  you  suppose  there  is  any 
record  up  there  of  who  got  the  appointment  for  mar- 
shal in  northern  Alabama  ? Do  you  suppose  there  is 
any  record  up  there  about  district  representation  ? 
Do  you  suppose  there  is  any  record  up  there  of  the 
proposed  horizontal  reduction  of  the  tariff?  Do 
you  suppose  there  is  any  record  up  there  of  nine 
tenths  of  all  you  read  in  the  daily  papers  every 
morning?  But  what  this  woman  did  is  recorded 
there.  When  the  solemn  reversals  of  eternity  shall 
even  up  the  hard  inequalities  of  this  time,  it  will  be 
found  that  often  the  last  here  are  the  first  here,  and 
the  first  here  are  the  last  there. 

Has  Christian  manliness  never  been  triumphant 
in  history?  Have  those  qualities  in  human  nature 
that  we  have  hitherto  tried  to  group  and  descrieb 
under  the  three  words,  courage,  dutifulness,  love, 
never  won  supreme  victory  in  the  history  of  the 
race?  What  was  the  secret  of  the  power  of  Colum- 
bus? His  great  and  pure  character!  What  was  it 
in  Martin  Luther  that  overawed  the  splendid  as- 
sembly at  Worms?  It  was  the  downright  integrity 
of  the  man,  his  simple  and  sublime  faith  in,  and  loy- 
alty to,  the  right.  “ Here  stand  I ; I can  do  no 
other.  God  help  me.’'  And  was  he  not  making 
history?  This  it  was  which  ennobled  and  glorified 
John  Bunyan,  and  strengthened  him  to  say,  after 
an  incarceration  of  twelve  years,  “ I have  deter- 
mined yet  to  suffer,  the  Almighty  God  being  my 
helper,  even  until  the  moss  shall  grow  over  my  eye- 
brows, if  frail  life  shall  continue  so  long,  rather 


74 


Christian  Manliness . 


than  violate  my  faith  and  my  principles.”  He  was 
a history-maker.  And  so  was  honest  Hugh  Lati- 
mer, not  only  when  preaching  at  Paul’s  Cross,  but 
when  he  bade  Master  Ridley  to  be  of  good  cheer 
and  play  the  man.  This  was  the  real  secret  of  the 
fiery  eloquence,  electric  and  contagious,  of  Wendell 
Phillips,  one  of  the  great  makers  of  our  history. 
He  was  a patrician,  but  that  will  be  forgotten  ; he 
was  a scholar,  but  that  will  be  forgotten  ; he  was  the 
greatest  orator  of  the  English-speaking  races  of  his 
time,  but  that  will  pale  into  a dim  tradition;  but 
while  the  memory  of  mankind  endures  it  will  never 
be  forgotten  that  the  patrician,  the  scholar,  the 
orator  ostracized  himself  for  a poor,  despised,  en- 
slaved race,  facing  in  the  center  of  culture  in  Amer- 
ica the  rage  and  fury  of  the  “ broadcloth  mob,”  and 
that  throughout  his  whole  life  he  had  the  unerring 
sagacity  to  pierce  through  all  external  disguises  and 
wrappings,  and  see  the  right,  and,  seeing  it,  he  had 
the  courage  to  bow  himself  down  to  it,  and  the 
faith  to  know  that  in  so  doing  he  served  God. 

This  is  manhood  in  history ! and  when  a whole 
crowd  of  the  petty  names  now  being  dinned  into 
our  ears  are  lost  in  the  rubbish  of  the  ages,  the 
brave  and  eloquent  patrician-commoner  of  New 
England,  Wendell  Phillips,  will  be  remembered 
with  gratitude,  with  respect,  with  ever-increasing 
and  imperishable  honor.  “ The  memory  of  the 
wicked  shall  rot,  but  the  righteous  shall  be  had  in 
everlasting  remembrance.” 

When  I was  a boy,  beginning  to  read  a little,  the 


Great  Men  in  History . 


7 5 


name  of  Socrates,  the  old  Greek,  used  to  puzzle  me 
greatly.  I could  not  find  out  what  he  had  ever 
done;  I could  not  find  out  that  he  had  ever  built 
any  city,  that  he  had  ever  commanded  any  armies, 
that  he  had  ever  devised  any  system  of  finance,  that 
he  had  ever  rescued  the  state  by  any  comprehensive 
measure  of  statesmanship.  And  yet  he  has  won  a 
unique  and  commanding  place  in  the  history  of  the 
race,  and  men  every-where  unite  to  do  honor  to  his 
name.  Now,  by  what  forces,  by  the  concurrence 
of  what  influences,  was  he  lifted  to  this  high,  se- 
rene, and  ample  place  ? Why  should  we  call  him 
the  greatest  and  wisest  of  the  Greeks?  He  was  not 
the  mythical  founder  of  a great  state,  as  Numa  or 
Theseus ; he  was  not  an  original  law-giver,  as  Solon 
or  Lycurgus  ; he  was  not  a genius  in  statesmanship, 
as  was  Pericles;  he  was  not  a victorious  general,  as 
was  Miltiades;  he  rescued  no  oppressed  cities,  as 
did  Timoleon  ; he  built  no  splendid  temples  and 
carved  no  great  statues  of  the  immortal  gods,  as 
did  the  great  Phidias ; he  did  not  aspire  to  the  dis- 
tinction of  a poet-philosopher,  as  did  his  illustrious 
disciple,  the  divine  Plato.  Nevertheless,  he  is 
greater  than  any  of  them,  more  widely  known  than 
any  other  Greek.  Put  it  to  the  test  of  the  average 
unlettered  man  on  the  street,  and  while  he  has 
heard  of  Socrates  he  knows  nothing  of  Miltiades, 
or  Pericles,  or  Timoleon,  or  Phidias.  Why?  He 
became  one  of  the  ruling  forces  in  history  solely 
by  virtue  of  the  supremacy  in  him  of  ethical  man- 
hood. He  was  a sound  man  at  the  core.  The 
6 


j6  Christian  Manliness . 

root  of  the  matter  was  in  him — righteousness.  He 
is  not,  indeed,  to  be  judged  by  his  country  and  his 
age ; his  moral  rule  suffers  by  comparison  with 
ours;  he  was  not  a perfect  character;  we  are  not 
to  forget  that  he  was  an  Athenian  of  pre-Christian 
times ; but  as  far  as  it  was  given  him  to  see  the 
light  he  courageously  and  steadfastly  followed  it, 
utterly  regardless  of  consequences.  He  talked 
about  a “demon”  that  went  about  with  him,  and 
whenever  this  demon,  or  voice,  or  divine  intimation 
told  him  not  to  do  any  thing  he  would  not  do  it ; 
and  it  so  happened  that  this  demon,  or  voice,  or  di- 
vine intimation  generally  told  him  not  to  do  things 
that  were  wrong.  His  manhood  was  exhibited  in 
the  winter  campaign  at  Potidaea,  where  the  rigors 
of  the  northern  climate  of  Thrace  could  not  chill 
his  spirits  nor  freeze  his  patriotism.  It  shone  forth 
illustriously  in  his  bold  and  perilous  rescue  of  his 
friend  Xenophon,  amid  the  confusion  and  flight 
that  followed  the  defeat  at  Delium.  He  never  held 
office  but  once  in  his  life,  and  then  but  for  a single 
day;  that  was  quite  long  enough  for  the  fickle  and 
venal  Athenians  to  have  such  a man  as  Socrates  in 
office.  Athens  had  been  engaged  in  an  unsuccess- 
ful war,  and  certain  rivals  of  the  ten  generals  com- 
manding the  Athenian  armies  were  stirring  up  the 
people  against  them  to  demand  their  execution. 
It  so  happened  that  in  regular  turn,  going  around 
among  the  tribes,  the  lot  fell  to  Socrates  to  preside 
that  day.  The  measure  was  illegal  in  form  and  in- 
iquitous in  substance,  and  so  he  nobly  refused  to 


Great  Men  in  History . 


77 


put  it  to  vote.  They  tried  every  art  known  to 
wily  and  supple  Greeks  in  order  to  swerve  him 
from  the  right  ; they  threatened  him,  they  flattered 
him,  they  entreated  him,  they  denounced  him  ; 
but  the  ugly  old  man  stood  there  all  day  and 
quietly  and  calmly  and  persistently  and  inflexibly 
refused  to  put  the  question  to  vote.  He  was  never 
again  called  to  the  discharge  of  any  public  trust 
in  Athens,  and  I doubt  if  to-day  he  could  be  elected 
to  Congress  in  America!  On  the  day  of  his  trial, 
when  he  stood  in  the  presence  of  his  superstitious 
and  unjust  judges,  he  used  this  memorable  language  : 
“ Men  of  Athens,  I honor  and  love  you  ; but  I shall 
obey  the  gods  rather  than  you,  and  while  I have 
life  and  health  I shall  never  cease  from  the  practice 
and  teaching  of  virtue,  exhorting  any  one  whom  I 
meet  after  my  manner,  and  convincing  him,  saying, 
‘ O my  friend,  why  do  you,  who  are  a citizen  of  the 
great  and  mighty  and  wise  city  of  Athens,  care  so 
much  about  laying  up  the  greatest  amount  of  money 
and  honor  and  reputation,  and  so  little  about  wis- 
dom and  truth  and  the  greatest  improvement  of  the 
soul,  which  you  never  regard  or  heed  at  all  ? ’ 
When  they  found  him  guilty,  hoping  to  escape  the 
infliction  of  a capital  sentence,  they  turned  to  him 
and  asked  him  what  the  sentence  should  be  ; and  the 
old  man,  seventy  years  of  age,  with  biting  sarcasm, 
answered,  “ I suppose  I ought  to  be  maintained  in 
honor  at  the  expense  of  the  State  for  the  remain- 
der of  my  life  as  a reward  for  my  eminent  services 
thereto.”  Then  they  took  another  vote  and  sen- 


78 


Christian  Manliness . 


tenced  him  to  death.  During  the  absence  of  the 
sacred  vessel  at  Delos,  it  was  unlawful  for  the 
Athenians  to  execute  a capital  sentence.  His 
friends  thought  to  improve  this  opportunity  to  se- 
cure his  escape.  They  bribed  the  jailer,  they  se- 
cured a swift-flying  trireme,  they  provided  a secure 
retreat  in  Thessaly,  and  then,  acquainting  him  with 
their  plans,  they  urged  him  to  fly.  He  declared 
that  he  had  devoted  all  his  life  to  teaching  the  duty 
of  obedience  to  the  laws,  and  that  he  would  not  now 
furnish  a public  example  of  disobedience.  They 
tell  him  that  he  has  been  unlawfully  condemned. 
He  replies  that  wrong  never  justifies  wrong.  His 
virtue  is  proof  alike  against  the  malice  of  his  ene- 
mies and  the  entreaties  of  his  friends. 

How  memorable  is  that  death-scene  in  Athens! 
In  pathetic  interest  and  moral  sublimity  there  is 
but  one  greater  in  the  whole  history  of  mankind. 
What  a strange  glory  surrounds  that  last  day  in 
prison  ! He  spent  his  final  hours  in  conversation 
with  his  friends  on  the  relation  of  pain  and  pleas- 
ure, on  the  cowardice  of  suicide,  on  the  nature  of 
virtue,  on  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  In  the 
midst  of  their  pleasant  converse  the  hour  of  doom 
arrives.  The  executioner  reluctantly  approaches 
him,  holding  in  his  hand  the  cup  of  hemlock,  and 
tells  him  that  the  hour  has  come,  and  then  burst  into 
tears.  Socrates  held  it  for  a moment,  and  said : 
“ Is  there  enough  to  secure  the  purpose  for  which 
it  was  appointed,  and  also  to  permit  me  to  make 
a libation  to  the  gods?”  And  he  was  answered 


Great  Men  in  History . 


79 


in  the  negative.  He  then  asked  for  directions,  and, 
having  received  them,  he  composedly  drank  the 
fatal  potion  at  one  draught,  without  a single  change 
of  feature.  The  long  pent-up  emotion  of  his  friends 
bursts  forth  in  loud  weeping,  but  he  gently  chides 
them,  reminding  them  that  he  had  sent  the  women 
away  hours  before  that  he  might  have  a quiet  and 
peaceful  death.  He  walked  around  the  room  until 
he  felt  the  languor  was  in  his  limbs,  and  then  lying 
down  upon  his  couch  he  covered  his  face.  Grad- 
ually the  torpor  reached  his  heart.  The  hour  of  his 
departure  is  at  hand,  and  while  the  golden  sunlight 
yet  lingers  on  the  hills  that  guard  the  City  of  the 
Violet  Crown  the  spirit  of  Socrates  goes  to  join  the 
invisible  assembly  of  the  pure  and  the  good,  and 
to  mingle  forever  with  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect.  He  was  not  a great  poet,  as  Homer;  he 
was  not  a great  orator,  as  Demosthenes ; he  was 
not  a great  dramatist,  as  Sophocles  ; he  was  not  a 
great  king,  as  Xerxes ; he  was  not  a great  general, 
as  Hannibal ; he  wasmot  a great  statesman,  as  Caesar  ; 
he  was  not  a maker  of  systems,  as  Aristotle ; he  re- 
stored no  cities,  as  Themistocles ; but  he  was  a man 
great  enough,  noble  enough,  honest  enough,  to  see 
the  simple  and  universal  truth,  and  abide  by  it,  that 
he  who  fears  God  and  works  righteousness  has  ex- 
hausted the  whole  meaning  of  human  life.  The 
glory  of  Athens  has  departed  ; “ her  freedom  and 
her  power  have  for  more  than  twenty  centuries  been 
annihilated  ; her  people  have  degenerated  into  timid 
slaves,  her  language  into  a barbarous  jargon  ; her 


8o 


Christian  Manliness . 


temples  have  been  given  up  to  the  successive  depre- 
dations of  Romans,  Turks,  and  Scotchmen  ; ” the 
unrivaled  splendors  of  her  Acropolis,  gleaming  far 
out  to  guide  the  returning  mariner  to  the  city  of 
his  passionate  love,  have  faded  and  perished  ; but 
the  name  of  Socrates,  like  a glowing  star,  shines 
with  increasing  luster  and  brilliancy  across  the  wide 
and  solemn  spaces  of  the  centuries.  In  the  long 
roll  of  the  ages,  his  is  the  only  name  that  Christian 
men  have  ever  ventured  to  compare  with  the  Name 
that  is  above  every  name. 

This  truth  is  susceptible  of  a broader  application  ; 
it  will  bear,  and  it  demands,  an  application  to  na- 
tions. Manhood  in  history  is  most  conspicuously 
illustrated  in  the  causes  that  have  governed  the  rise, 
growth,  and  decay  of  nations.  It  is  that  particular 
period  in  the  history  of  a nation  when  the  balance 
swings  over  from  righteousness  to  falseness,  dishon- 
esty, cowardice,  cruelty,  sensuality,  and  baseness 
that  the  causes  begin  to  operate  which  in  their 
final  issue  decide  its  ultimate  overthrow.  In  the 
earlier  periods  of  the  history  of  the  Greek  race  their 
false  religion  held  them  fast  at  least  to  the  common 
fundamental  virtues  ; but  when  the  era  of  overflow- 
ing wealth  and  leisure  and  luxury  and  skepticism 
set  in,  and  when  at  last  the  Greeks  would  have 
changed  our  formula — Courage,  dutifulness,  love — 
and  would  have  said,  “ Gold,  beauty,  intellect  ” — 
then  Greece  was  gone,  and  nothing  could  rescue 
her.  When  she  tried  to  purchase  her  safety  by  dis- 
tributing gold  to  Philip  of  Macedon,  when  she  pre- 


Great  Men  in  History . Si 

tended  that  duty  could  be  transformed  into  beauty, 
when  in  her  swelling  intellectual  vanity  she  believed 
that  if  the  gods  were  * to  come  to  the  earth  they 
would  speak  in  the  language  of  Plato,  then  the  fate 
of  Greece  was  sealed.  In  the  early  history  of  Rome 
no  nation  or  people  could  long  stand  before  her ; 
but  when  wealth  accumulated,  when,  finally,  instead 
of  dutifulness  there  came  undutifulness  and  disobe- 
dience, when  the  Roman  husband  asserted  and  ex- 
ercised the  right  of  free  divorce  from  his  wife,  the 
right  to  put  her  away  at  his  will,  when  the  time 
came  that  they  held  such  banquets  in  the  houses  of 
the  wealthy  as  you  may  see  portrayed  in  a striking 
painting  now  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art, 
when,  to  protect  themselves  from  mob  violence, 
they  threw  largesses  of  wheat  to  the  half-starving 
populace,  the  very  heart  of  manhood  in  Rome  was 
eaten  out,  and  the  time  had  come  for  the  Goths  and 
Vandals  to  portion  her  off.  Wheresoever  the  car- 
cass is,  the  birds  of  prey  are  gathered  together. 

There  is  a modern*  nation  that  has  attempted  more 
than  once  to  build  itself  on  something  else  than 
truth,  virtue,  and  holiness,  seeking  some  artificial 
substitute  for  personal  righteousness.  I would  not 
do  injustice  to  France,  but,  if  I read  her  history 
aright,  her  formula  for  nearly  a hundred  years  has 
too  often  been  “ Glory,  pleasure,  passion,”  and  she 
has  attempted  by  that  formula  to  lead  the  world. 
What  has  been  the  result  ? She  has  gone  down 
again  and  again  before  sturdier  peoples,  and  I have 
no  faith  in  the  permanence  of  the  present  republic 


82 


Christian  Manliness . 


unless  the  French  people  fall  in  love  with  sober,  self- 
renouncing  virtue  ; unless  the  French  people  learn 
that  courage,  dutifulness,  love — not  glory,  pleasure, 
passion — constitute  the  strength  of  a great  nation. 

With  all  the  faults  and  sins  of  England,  she  has 
endured  for  twelve  glorious  centuries,  and  where  is 
the  nation  that  can  conquer  her  now?  Why? 
Because  the  body  of  her  people  are  and  have 
always  been  sound  at  heart.  And  America — we 
are  in  no  danger  so  long  as  the  body  of  the  people 
are  sound.  I have  not  much  hope  when  I take  an 
afternoon  stroll  on  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue, 
and  look  upon  these  gilded  youths,  with  their  mut- 
ton-chop whiskers,  and  their  hair  parted  in  the  mid- 
dle, or  banged  low  on  the  forehead,  the  light  fringe 
of  down  on  their  upper  lips,  oiled  and  perfumed,  their 
pants  fitting  like  gloves,  and  their  tooth-pick  shoes 
— my  hope  of  this  country  is  not  built  upon  such 
manikins  as  these ; but  because  I believe  the  great 
body  of  the  people  to  be  uncorrupted,  because  I 
know  that  all  over  this  land  the  majority  of  plain, 
sincere,  home-loving  people  still  believe  in  cour- 
age, dutifulness,  love,  I do  firmly  believe  that  we 
will  weather  many  a future  storm,  and  that  if  we 
continue  to  keep  sound  at  heart  we  will  weather  all 
storms. 

Jesus  came  to  supereminent  personal  power  and 
influence.  All  other  names  pale  their  ineffectual 
fires  before  his  name.  We  think  not  of  Socrates  or 
Confucius,  of  Zoroaster  or  Buddha,  or  any  man  of 
ancient  or  modern  times  in  his  serene  and  superior 


Great  Men  in  History . 


33 


presence.  What  were  the  forces,  what  the  elements, 
what  the  conditions  of  the  strange  and  marvelous 
power  to  which  the  Nazarene  has  come?  Our  fa- 
thers in  theology  and  apologetics  honestly  thought 
that  the  best  method  of  proving  the  great  power  of 
Jesus  was  by  assuming  the  truth  of  the  miracles, 
and  then  arguing  that  whoever  could  work  such 
miracles  must  necessarily  be  divine.  We  have 
learned  a more  natural  and  convincing  way.  We 
take  him  in  his  inherent  and  essential  and  inde- 
structible moral  glory  and  perfection,  without  break 
or  flaw  or  fault,  and  we  say  that  the  greater  mira- 
cle of  his  sinlessness  must  include  the  lesser  miracles 
ascribed  to  his  power.  Socrates  is  demonstrably 
defective;  Jesus  Christ  is  absolutely  faultless.  In 
this  he  is  unique.  Here  he  stands  alone.  I know 
of  no  other  being  in  whose  behalf  the  claim  is  raised 
that  he  was  absolutely  sinless.  How  did  he  come 
to  this  power?  Not  by  writing  books;  he  never 
wrote  any  books,  he  never  led  any  armies,  he  never 
founded  any  state,  he  never  created  a literature,  he 
never  established  a philosophy,  he  was  not  the  head 
of  a school  of  art ; he  moved  among  the  people  in 
Palestine  quietly  and  simply,  and  declared  that  his 
Father  had  sent  him  into  this  world  to  do  his  will, 
and  he  offered  no  other  reason  for  his  being  here. 
This  was  his  message  concerning  himself : “ I am 
here  to  do  my  Father’s  will ; ” and  he  went  about 
doing  it,  quietly,  simply,  faithfully,  lovingly,  and  he 
did  it  to  the  end.  The  power  of  Jesus  is  the  power 
of  absolute  righteousness. 


84 


Christian  Manliness . 


My  friends,  let  us  not  be  deceived,  GOD  is  not 
mocked.  Whatsoever  a man  soweth,  that  shall  he 
also  reap  ; whatsoever  a nation  soweth,  that  also 
shall  it  reap.  No  man  can  build  on  falseness  and 
gather  the  fruits  of  honesty;  no  man  can  build  on 
unrighteousness  and  gather  the  fruits  of  righteous- 
ness. Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out.  Right- 
eousness is  safe,  righteousness  is  profitable,  right- 
eousness is  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ,  righteousness 
is  the  will  of  Almighty  God.  “ The  world  passeth 
away,  and  the  lust  thereof;  but  he  that  doeth  the 
will  of  God  abideth  forever.” 


Christian  Manliness  in  Trial. 


85 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS  IN  TRIAL. 

From  that  time  many  of  his  disciples  went  back,  and  walked  no 
more  with  him.  Then  said  Jesus  unto  the  twelve,  Will  ye  also 
go  away?  Then  Simon  Peter  answered  him,  Lord,  to  whom 
shall  we  go?  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.  And  we  believe 
and  are  sure  that  thou  art  that  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God. — 
John  vi,  66-69. 

I AM  to  speak  to  you  to-night  on  Christian  Man- 
liness in  Trial.  Manliness  is  tried  or  put  to  the  test 
in  all  those  experiences  and  conditions  of  human 
life  which  menace  the  steadfastness,  the  unselfish- 
ness, the  heroism  of  our  virtues.  Who  is  there  with 
sufficient  hardihood  to  undertake  an  exhaustive  cat- 
alogue of  such  experiences  and  conditions?  In 
short,  this  is  a probationary  state  of  being,  this 
whole  life  is  a trial  life,  this  time  is  a testing  time, 
and  our  environment  is  what  it  is  for  the  fulfillment 
of  the  final,  gracious1  purposes  of  Almighty  God. 

The  problem  of  human  existence  on  this  globe 
resolves  itself  at  last  to  this:  the  evolution,  under 
divine  superintendence  and  care,  of  perfect  spirit- 
ual beings  by  the  mysterious  ministry  of  growth, 
struggle,  and  trial.  Sickness,  pain,  the  gradual  ap- 
proach of  certain  death — in  such  experiences  Chris- 
tian manliness  is  put  to  the  trial.  Manliness  is 
tested  by  poverty  and  by  wealth,  by  obscurity  and 
by  fame,  by  defeat  and  by  success,  by  failure  and 
by  victory.  Calumny,  public  vituperation  and 


86 


Christian  Manliness . 


abuse,  secret  solicitation  to  evil,  devotion  to  unpal- 
atable truth,  the  service,  in  the  presence  of  a hos- 
tile public  opinion,  of  the  despised  and  degraded 
classes  in  society,  loneliness,  the  irreducible  inequal- 
ities of  society,  betrayal,  the  seeming  strength  of 
wickedness,  the  seeming  weakness  of  righteousness 
— these  words  imperfectly  denote  some  of  the  con- 
ditions by  which  our  manliness  is  here  tested. 

How  easy  it  is  for  a man  to  secure  a cheap, 
ephemeral  reputation  by  the  vigorous  and  coura- 
geous denunciation  of  dead  or  dying  errors!  To 
illustrate  my  thought,  how  cheap  it  is  to-day  for  a 
Protestant  preacher  to  denounce  the  errors  of  Ro- 
man Catholicism  ! How  easy  it  is  for  him  to  array 
himself  against  its  dead  or  dying  errors  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a sympathetic  audience,  who  will  be  sure,  at 
least  inwardly,  to  applaud.  Every  bigot  and  zealot 
present  will  be  especially  delighted.  How  brave  it 
is  to  get  a reputation  as  a Defender  of  the  Faith 
when  perhaps  there  is  not  a Catholic  present,  and 
if  there  should  be  one,  and  he  should  rise  and  un- 
dertake a defense  of  his  faith,  he  would  be  cast  out 
of  the  synagogue  ! Now,  this  is  not  the  spirit  of 
the  men  who  three  hundred  years  ago  denounced 
Catholicism.  The  men  of  that  day  were  face  to 
face  with  Catholicism  in  its  living  power,  and  for 
them  to  denounce  its  errors  probably  meant,  and 
in  very  many  instances  actually  meant,  imprison- 
ment, social  ostracism,  the  fagot,  death  in  some 
cruel  form.  But  it  is  not  manly  to  seek  to  ob- 
tain a temporary  reputation  by  the  vigorous  and 


Christian  Manliness  in  Trial . 87 

unsparing  denunciation  of  error  that  is  either  dead 
or  in  the  last  gasp.  I put  this  in  that  I might 
preach  a little  to  myself.  I have  preached  a good 
deal  to  you,  and  it  is  well  sometimes  for  the  preach- 
er to  do  as  the  physician  does  when  he  comes  to  our 
houses — taste  his  own  medicine. 

Have  you  ever  heard  of  the  tests  to  which  the 
manhood  of  Wellington  was  submitted  in  the  Pe- 
ninsular Campaigns?  How  when  he  went  there 
he  found  himself  in  the  presence  of  350,000  French 
soldiers,  thirsting  for  glory  and  hitherto  victorious 
on  almost  every  battle-field,  and  led  by  some  of 
Napoleon’s  most  distinguished  marshals,  while  Wel- 
lington had  but  30,000  British  troops?  This  was 
the  case  for  four  years,  and  he  was  subjected  to 
the  test  of  waiting  with  30,000  men  in  Portugal 
until  by  his  inactivity  the  French  army  should  be 
demoralized,  and  he  raise  up  a Portuguese  and 
Spanish  contingent  that  would  enable  him  to 
have  the  victory.  To  wait  four  years  at  the  head 
of  30,000  men  with  England  clamoring  for  an  attack, 
and  all  this  time  to  be  unmurmuring,  and  to  abide 
by  his  policy  until  the  day  for  victory  came,  was  the 
exhibition  of  a noble  manhood. 

Nor  was  this  all.  One  of  Napoleon’s  marshals, 
when  he  marched  out  of  Spain,  carried  with  him 
some  of  the  most  valuable  pictures  in  that  country. 
The  Duke  of  Wellington  carried  out  of  Spain  and 
Portugal  not  a cent’s  worth  of  any  thing  that  be- 
longed to  another  man.  When  he  at  last  crossed 
the  French  frontier  and  news  was  brought  to  him 


88 


Christian  Manliness . 


that  40,000  Spanish  infantry  were  about  to  gather 
fortunes  by  indiscriminate  pillage,  he  remonstrated 
with  their  officers,  and  when  they  would  not  listen 
to  him  he  sent  the  whole  army  back  to  Spain.  At 
home  they  were  plotting  against  him  ; every  jealous 
rival  was  seeking  to  undermine  him.  The  home  ad- 
ministration at  that  time  was  weak,  hesitating,  dila- 
tory, and  not  equal  to  the  great  emergency ; the 
Spaniards  were  grasping  and  rapacious,  the  Portu- 
guese were  ambitious  and  self-seeking ; and  yet  in 
the  presence  of  all  these  difficulties  he  built  up  an 
army,  and  trained  it,  and  gave  it  a splendid  esprit 
dn  corps , and  at  last  hurled  it  against  this  hitherto 
victorious  French  army,  and  comes  down  to  us  the 
great  victor  of  the  Peninsular  Campaign.  In  the 
midst  of  his  victories  he  writes  a secret  letter  to  the 
home  government:  “ I am  overwhelmed  with  debt 
(not  his  own  personal  debts,  but  debts  contracted  in 
the  prosecution  of  his  campaigns),  and  can  scarcely 
go  out  of  my  house  on  account  of  public  creditors 
waiting  to  demand  of  me  their  just  dues.”  Yet  he 
was  patient,  and  waited,  and  kept  himself  submis- 
sive, and  at  last,  at  Waterloo,  it  was  given  to  this 
Iron  Duke  to  break  forever  the  power  of  the  most 
unprincipled  political  and  military  adventurer  that 
has  ever  appeared  in  the  whole  history  of  man. 

“ Such  was  he  ; his  work  is  done. 

But  while  the  races  of  mankind  endure 
Let  his  great  example  stand 
Colossal,  seen  of  every  land, 

And  keep  the  soldier  firm,  the  statesman  pure; 


Christian  Manliness  in  Trial . 89 

Till  in  all  lands  and  thro’  all  human  story 

The  path  of  duty  be  the  way  to  glory ! ” 

We  think  that  General  Grant  was  the  first  Amer- 
ican soldier  who  has  been  abused.  We  think  that 
Samuel  J.  Tilden  is  the  first  great  public  man  who 
has  ever  had  enough  patience  never  to  reply  to  his 
infamous  detractors.  We  forget  that  George  Wash- 
ington was  scandalously  abused  and  vilified.  His 
manhood  was  most  severely  tested  in  the  winter  of 
1 777-78.  In  the  fall  of  the  preceding  year  Wash- 
ington had  been  well-nigh  uniformly  unsuccessful, 
while  Stark  and  Gates  had  been  successful.  That 
was  the  famous  winter  of  Valley  Forge.  The  army 
was  inactive,  and  the  country  was  impatient.  Cabal 
after  cabal  was  formed  against  him,  and  who  do  you 
suppose  the  intriguers  were?  Leading  officers  in 
the  Continental  army,  prominent  members  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  eminent  civilians.  Forged 
letters  were  printed  in  the  newspapers  of  New  York 
and  London,  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  showing 
that  George  Washington  was  insincere  in  his  devo- 
tion to  the  cause  of  the  revolution.  His  friends  be- 
sought him  to  reply,  but  he  nobly  refused.  Why? 
Because  he  could  not  defend  himself  without  sacri- 
ficing the  cause.  He  said  to  them  : “ How  can  I 
defend  myself  by  a letter?  Look  at  these  soldiers. 
Do  they  ask  me  why  I am  inactive?  Shall  I reply 
that  the  soldiers  are  almost  starved,  with  insufficient 
clothing,  weakened  by  exposure?  I will  wait  and 
see  the  end.”  He  never  wrote  a line  to  defend 
himself  through  all  that  terrible  winter.  He  waited, 


9o 


Christian  Manliness . 


and  worked,  and  won  ; and  now  that  the  mists  have 
cleared  away,  yonder  he  stands,  the  grandest  figure 
that  ever  presided  over  the  birth  of  a great  people, 
the  Father  of  his  country:  first  in  war,  first  in  peace, 
and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 

John  Milton,  loving  as  he  did  the  “ still  air  of  de- 
lightful studies,”  consecrated  himself  with  the  fer- 
vor and  devotion  of  a religious  devotee  to  the  war 
against  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  of  tyrannical 
prelacy  in  England,  and  during  the  struggles  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  and  during  the  Protectorate  of 
Oliver  Cromwell,  he  worked  with  such  uncommon 
assiduity  that  at  last  he  became  blind.  After  a 
while  the  Commonwealth  perished,  and  the  cause 
seemed  lost.  Milton  was  an  old  man.  His  daugh- 
ters cheated  him  in  the  market  money.  An  enter- 
prising and  generous  publisher  gave  him  $25  for  the 
copyright  of  Paradise  Lost . 

The  time  came  to  receive  Charles  the  Second,  and 
reinstate  him  on  the  throne  of  his  ancestors,  and 
the  people  lined  the  cliffs  of  Dover  and  took  off 
their  hats  and  waved  them  and  made  the  welkin 
ring  with  their  loud  huzzas,  but  John  Milton  was 
not  there.  If  he  had  been,  he  would  have  kept  his 
hat  on  his  head  ; for  he  was  no  obsequious  syco- 
phant. He  had  never  learned  to  “ crook  the  preg- 
nant hinges  of  the  knee,  that  thrift  might  follow 
fawning.”  He  was  still  a Puritan  ; no  more  believ- 
ing now  than  twenty  years  before  in  prelacy,  or  the 
divine  right  of  kings.  He  never  compromised,  and 
in  his  blind  old  age,  deserted,  hated,  proscribed, 


Christian  Manliness  in  Trial.  91 

poverty-stricken,  he  stood  by  his  principles,  and 
pathetically  described  his  situation  in  one  of  the 
noblest  tragic  dramas  in  the  English  language. 

And  was  he  complaining?  Did  he  lose  faith  in 
Providence?  Did  he  murmur?  Listen  to  his  no- 
blest sonnet : 

“ Cyriac,  this  three  years  clay  these  eyes,  though  clear 
To  outward  view  of  blemish  or  of  spot, 

Bereft  of  light  their  seeing  have  forgot ; 

Nor  to  their  idle  orbs  doth  sight  appear 
Of  sun,  or  moon,  or  star,  throughout  the  year, 

Or  man  or  woman.  Yet  I argue  not 
Against  Heaven’s  hand  or  will,  nor  bate  a jot 
Of  heart  or  hope ; but  still  bear  up  and  steer 
Right  onward.  What  supports  me,  dost  thou  ask? 

The  conscience,  Friend,  to  have  lost  them  overplied 
In  Liberty’s  defense;  my  noble  task 
Of  which  all  Europe  rings  from  side  to  side. 

This  thought  might  lead  me  thro’  the  world’s  vain  mask, 
Content,  though  blind,  had  I no  better  guide.” 

It  is  related  that  Charles  II.  and  the  Duke  of  York 
once  visited  the  old  man  in  his  humble  lodgings  to 
revile  him  for  the  part  he  had  taken  in  the  Com- 
monwealth, and  that  they  taunted  him  on  account 
of  the  failure  of  his  cause,  declaring  that  he  had 
been  justly  forsaken  of  God  and  man.  Charles  II., 
one  of  the  most  unscrupulous  and  dissolute  liber- 
tines that  ever  disgraced  a throne  in  the  whole  his- 
tory of  the  world,  and  the  Duke  of  York,  after- 
ward his  successor,  a narrow,  sullen,  obstinate  bigot 
— what  men  to  revile  Milton  ! They  were  the  kings 
then,  but  Milton  is  the  king  now;  a king  not  alone 

by  virtue  of  his  splendid  and  immortal  genius,  but 
7 


92 


Christian  Manliness . 


quite  as  much  by  his  devotion  to  unpopular  truth, 
by  his  vast  and  his  incalculable  services  to  popular 
liberty,  by  the  rare  purity  of  his  character,  and  by 
his  deep  and  calm  faith  in  God  and  the  eternal 
power  of  goodness. 

On  that  dreadful,  awful,  fatal  second  of  July  morn- 
ing, when  Garfield  was  stretched  on  the  floor  at 
Washington  City  in  the  public  railway  station,  the 
sudden  shock,  the  prospect  of  immediate  death,  could 
not  unman  him  ; he  was  equal  to  the  solemn  hour, 
he  had  no  preparation  to  make — he  had  made  it 
long  ago.  When  they  took  him  to  his  room  and 
told  him  that  he  had  one  chance  in  a hundred,  he 
cheerily  replied,  “Well,  we  will  take  that  chance 
and  fight  it  out.”  And  then  for  eighty  days  and 
nights  he  looked  into  the  open  grave,  and  he  saw 
all  the  high  ambitions  that  he  had  cherished  depart 
one  after  another,  and  the  weary  days  and  the  long 
nights  of  pain  followed  each  other,  and  these  things 
did  not  break  his  spirit.  His  manhood,  tested  by  a 
sudden  shock,  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  His 
manhood,  tested  by  prolonged  and  almost  unparal- 
leled suffering,  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  Man- 
hood is  indeed  sovereign  over  “ the  undiscovered 
mystery  of  pain.” 

But  the  great  army  of  unrecorded,  unrecognized, 
unrequited  heroes!  How  many  men  there  have 
been  who  in  humble  places  have  maintained  their 
manhood  unsullied,  incorrupt,  sound,  and  whole! 
An  officer  in  a bank,  in  a subordinate  position,  not 
the  president,  not  the  cashier,  not  striving  for  the 


Christian  Manliness  in  Trial . 93 

place  of  president  or  cashier,  calls  the  attention  of 
a number  of  the  trustees  to  a system  of  entries  be- 
ing pursued  which  were  fraudulent  in  their  nature. 
He  again  and  again  pointed  out  the  danger  of  such 
entries,  and  the  directors,  trying  to  avoid  trouble, 
not  wishing  to  make  any  change  in  the  chief  officers, 
accepted  his  resignation,  and  for  years  he  found  no 
place  until  the  earnings  of  his  life  were  gradually 
exhausted.  He  was  not  a distinguished  man.  His 
name  is  not  written  anywhere  in  any  of  the  public 
places  of  earth.  If  it  is  not  written  yonder,  then  no 
book  of  remembrance  is  kept. 

A young  man  finds  himself  with  the  fatal  cough 
that  betokens  certain  death.  He  has  graduated 
with  honor,  he  has  been  admitted  to  the  bar,  his 
prospects  in  life  are  unusually  flattering,  but  never 
to  father  or  mother,  never  to  brother  or  sister,  never 
to  the  most  intimate  friend  did  he  allow  one  word 
of  complaint  or  murmuring  to  escape  him  as  he 
walked  to  the  grave.  Nay,  more;  within  a month 
of  his  death,  in  the  full  possession  of  his  reason, 
after  much  earnest  thought,  he  chose  a form  of  re- 
ligious faith  deemed  deadly  heresy  by  his  own 
friends,  and  was  received  into  a Church  that  was  to 
them  a dangerously  heretical  Church,  and  all  this  he 
did  quietly,  and  with  great  respect  and  love  for 
those  whose  faith  differed  so  widely  from  his  own. 
That  was  heroism. 

Have  you  never  heard  of  Thomas  Wright,  of  Man- 
chester, the  foundryman  who  received  not  quite 
$500  a year,  and  by  accident  discovered  that  liber- 


94 


Christian  Manliness . 


ated  convicts  had  a hard  time  to  get  an  honest 
place?  This  honest,  brotherly  foundryman  took 
these  convicts  and  got  them  places,  and  he  appor- 
tioned his  scanty  earnings  in  such  a way  that  a 
certain  sum  would  be  at  his  disposal  temporarily 
to  assist  the  released  convicts  for  whom  he  could 
not  find  places.  He  worked  in  the  foundry  from 
six  in  the  morning  till  six  in  the  evening.  In  ten 
years  he  had  secured  places  for  three  hundred  con- 
victs, all  of  whom  proved  themselves  trustworthy, 
and  were  thus  rescued  from  villainy.  Now,  do  you 
think  that  man’s  name  isn’t  in  heaven?  When  they 
call  the  roll  in  heaven,  kings  and  philosophers  and 
poets  and  statesmen,  popes  and  cardinals  and  bish- 
ops, a great  number  of  them,  must  wait  until  plain 
Thomas  Wright  gets  his  crown. 

The  beginning  of  the  public  ministry'of  Jesus  has 
been  styled  a “ Galilean  spring-time.”  The  music 
of  love  that  marked  the  beginning  of  that  minis- 
try was  disturbed  by  but  a single  discordant  note, 
his  rejection  by  his  fellow-townsmen  of  Nazareth. 
But  at  the  wedding  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  in  the  great 
crowds  that  thronged  him  in  the  vicinity  of  Caper- 
naum, Tiberius,  and  Bethsaida,  in  the  popularity  that 
led  him  to  seek  retreat  from  the  crowds  at  night 
and  early  in  the  morning,  that  he  might  have  time 
for  prayer  and  rest,  we  see  how  bright  and  promis- 
ing in  the  beginning  was  the  ministry  of  Jesus. 

It  is  apparent,  to  those  who  study  the  New  Tes- 
tament faithfully,  that  at  the  beginning  the  Phari- 
sees hoped  to  be  able  to  make  use  of  him  as  a 


CJiristia?i  Manliness  in  Trial.  95 

popular  leader.  The  people  were  his  friends  : there 
was  no  open  break  yet  with  the  national  Church, 
no  open  break  with  the  recognized  religious  leaders 
of  the  nation.  Time  went  on,  and  first  of  all  his 
own  relatives  broke  from  him,  and  said  that  he  was 
beside  himself.  The  first  sinister  rumor  was  that 
he  had  gone  crazy  as  the  result  of  his  enthusi- 
asm for  humanity.  Then  the  Pharisees  conspired 
against  him,  and  after  a while  the  Jewish  rational- 
ists, the  Sadducees,  and  then  the  astute,  superserv- 
iceable  politicians  of  the  day,  the  Herodians,  men 
who  were  hangers-on  in  Herod’s  court,  waiting  for 
offices. 

Have  you  ever  thought  of  the  epithets  applied  to 
Jesus?  Sometimes  when  I read  in  the  papers  an 
unusually  abusive  and  scurrilous  article  on  some 
worthy  public  man,  I take  a piece  of  paper  and  write 
out  the  epithets  that  were  employed  against  Jesus. 
They  called  him  a glutton,  a wine-bibber,  a heretic, 
a crazy  man,  a Sabbath-breaker,  a seditionist,  and 
they  brought  a charge  that  he  was  in  league  with 
the  prince  of  the  devils,  a heathen  god  of  such  a 
character  that  if  I should  attempt  here  to  describe 
his  filthiness  this  congregation  would  not  wait  to 
hear  the  recital ; and  yet  they  said  that  it  was  by 
his  alliance  with  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  dev- 
ils, that  he  cast  out  devils.  The  people  soon  fell 
away  from  him,  and  he  was  left  alone.  And  so 
Jesus  knew  what  it  was  to  have  his  manliness  tested 
in  trial.  “ From  that  time  many  of  his  disciples 
went  back,  and  walked  no  more  with  him.”  Is 


96 


Christian  Manliness . 


there  any  thing  more  pathetic  in  the  language  of 
man  than  the  words  of  Jesus  at  this  time  to  the 
twelve:  “ Will  ye  also  go  away?”  If  there  is  any 
thing  that  touches  a deeper  chord  in  the  being  of  a 
reverent  man,  it  is  the  other  question  of  Jesus  to 
the  three  disciples  in  the  garden  : “ What,  could  ye 
not  watch  with  me  one  hour?”  So  it  was  that  as  a 
Son  he  was  made  perfect  by  suffering. 

I summon  you  to  these  ranks.  I summon  you 
especially,  young  men,  to  the  manhood  that  asks, 
not  “ How  much  can  this  world  give  me,”  not  “ How 
many  friends  can  I make  who  will  bring  wealth  and 
honor  to  me,”  but  to  a loftier  type  of  manliness ; to 
the  courage  that  will  lead  you  to  speak  the  needed 
but  unpalatable  truth,  to  the  faith  that  will  inspire 
you  to  join  the  right  but  unpopular  side,  to  such 
quiet  steadiness  of  dutifulness  as  would  lead  you  in 
an  obscure  position  to  do  what  Thomas  Wright,  the 
English  foundryman,  did. 

I call  you  to  be  subject  to  the  abuse,  to  the  vitu- 
peration, to  the  slander  of  the  time.  I call  you  to 
the  larger,  nobler,  diviner  life  that  gives,  gives, 
gives,  and  is  yet  glad,  smiling,  trustful,  and  broth- 
erly. 

I call  you  to-night  to  such  arduous  service,  and  to 
keep,  withal,  an  unsoured  heart,  a bright  face,  and 
an  open  palm.  I call  you  to  the  higher  manhood 
of  all  the  heroes  of  the  past  who  have  given  us  this 
splendid  heritage  of  liberty  and  religion,  of  home 
and  literature;  to  the  glorious  fellowship  of  all  who 
by  the  toil  of  their  hands,  by  the  sweat  of  their 


Christian  Manliness  in  TriaL  97 

brows,  and  the  blood  of  their  hearts,  have  made  it 
possible  for  us  to  be  here,  and  to  be  what  we  are. 

Hear  the  voice  that  speaks  to  you,  and  when 
Jesus  asks,  amid  all  the  apostasies  and  declensions 
of  this  modern  time,  “ Will  ye  also  go  away?”  fear 
not  to  answer  with  Peter,  “ Lord,  to  whom  shall  we 
go  ? Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life  ; and  we 
believe  and  are  sure  that  thou  art  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God.” 


98 


Christian  Manliness. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  PROPHECIES  OF  CHRIS- 
TIAN MANLINESS. 

Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear 
what  we  shall  be  : but  we  know  that,  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall 
be  like  him  ; for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  — i John  iii,  2. 

The  Bible,  as  the  vehicle  of  a supernatural  reve- 
lation, discloses  and  sets  in  a clear  light  the  peculiar 
glory  and  greatness  of  man.  This  it  does  in  its  own 
peculiar  way.  If  it  represents  him  as  a wrong-doer, 
it  does  not  put  that  wrong-doing  on  a small,  paltry, 
puny  scale ; he  is  a great  wrong-doer,  and  the  very 
essence  of  his  sin  is  made  to  consist  in  an  act  of  au- 
dacious rebellion  against  the  Supreme  Majesty  of 
the  Universe.  Only  a great  being  would  venture 
on  such  an  act.  If  it  describes  him  as  in  peril  on 
account  of  his  sin,  it  unfolds  that  peril  as  being 
vast,  tremendous,  and  immeasurable,  a peril  such  as 
a great  transgressor  only,  not  some  petty  criminal, 
would  be  likely  to  incur.  If  it  describes  him  as  in 
ruins,  it  is  the  ruin  of  a mighty  and  glorious  being, 
such  as  is  described  in  Bushnell’s  sermon  on  “ The 
Dignity  of  Human  Nature  as  Shown  by  Its  Ruins.” 
If  he  is  overtaken  by  guilt,  the  matter  is  of  such 
importance  that  God  himself  sets  out  on  a search 
for  him,  to  rescue  him  and  restore  him  to  right- 
eousness. If  he  is  to  be  redeemed,  it  is  not  by  sil- 
ver or  gold,  or  by  the  blood  of  any  dumb  animal, 


Spiritual  Prophecies  of  Christian  Manliness . 99 

or  by  any  cold  process  of  merely  naturalistic  de- 
velopment, but  by  the  incarnation  of  Divinity,  the 
voluntary  condescension  of  the  Great  Being  to  the 
pain,  the  suffering,  the  limitations,  and  the  whole 
round  of  experience  of  our  human  life.  The  con- 
stant, pervading,  and  every-where-present  assump- 
tion is  that  man  is  a spiritual  being,  sprung  from 
God,  open  to  God,  made  for  the  highest  righteous- 
ness, carrying  about  in  him  now  God-like  faculties, 
equal  to  direct  and  intimate  communion  with  the 
great  Original  of  his  being,  permeable  and  inspira- 
ble  by  God.  This  is  the  peculiar  way  in  which  the 
Bible  makes  man  great — by  relating  him  to  God  ; 
and  no  moral  being  is  great  except  as  he  is  related 
to  God. 

Man’s  present  relation  to  God,  not  only,  but  the 
vast  possibilities  of  growth  that  inhere  in  this  truth 
of  his  Divine  kinship  make  him  great.  This  is  the 
latent  thought  of  the  text.  Man  now  is  the  Son 
of  God,  incalculable  in  the  worth  and  dignity  of 
his  being,  and  his  actual  greatness,  his  existing  pow- 
ers point  to  a future  development  and  glory,  a com- 
ing investiture  of  purity  and  power,  that  run  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  all  his  present  powers  of  con- 
ception. “ Beloved,  now  (here,  living  in  the  flesh), 
NOW  are  we  the  sons  of  God  ” — we  have  reached 
that  condition  already;  we  are  that  far  along  in  the 
line  of  spiritual  development;  ‘‘but  it  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  we  shall  be;”  there  is  not  suffi- 
cient data  to  enable  us  to  cipher  that  out,  and  so 
(for  to  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  there  was 


IOO 


Christian  Manliness . 


no  more  perfect  manhood  or  being  than  Jesus 
Christ)  it  is  declared  that  we  shall  be  like  him 
when  he  shall  appear. 

For  several  weeks  in  this  place  on  Sunday  even- 
ings we  have  been  studying  the  nature  and  power 
of  Christian  manliness.  In  the  first  lecture  its  con- 
stituent elements  were  described — what  it  was  not, 
and  what  it  was — and  it  was  shown  that  neither 
genius  nor  talent  nor  scholarship  nor  manners  nor 
knowledge,  nor  any  physical  fortitude  alone,  nor 
agility  nor  grace  nor  beauty,  contained  the  desirable 
and  necessary  elements ; that  three  words,  more 
nearly  than  any  others,  denoted  what  it  contained — 
Courage,  Dutifulness,  Love  ; that  the  inspiring  soul 
of  genuine  manliness  was  reality;  that  man  should 
be  true  to  the  last  fiber  of  his  nature,  straight  in 
all  moral  purpose  ; and  that  in  these  and  like  ele- 
ments manliness  consisted.  It  was  found  that  it 
did  not  depend  upon  the  place  of  a man’s  birth, 
upon  his  early  surroundings,  upon  the  society  he 
mingled  with  in  boyhood  or  moved  in  now,  whether 
he  had  or  had  not  obtained  high  public  position, 
but  that  wherever  there  was  a human  spirit  that  so 
received  the  right  as  to  bow  down  to  it  and  serve  it, 
there  was  a man  ; and  that  all  other  kinds  of  men 
were  simply  animals  on  their  road  to  manhood.  In 
the  second  lecture  the  power  of  manliness  was 
shown  in  poverty;  how  it  was  confronted  with  the 
peculiar  temptations  of  that  state,  and  how  again 
and  again  and  again  it  had  triumphed  over  these 
seemingly  insurmountable  obstacles.  Such  illustra- 


Spiritual  Prophecies  of  Christian  Manliness,  ioi 

tions  were  given  as  are  afforded  by  the  careers  of 
Horace  Greeley  and  Alexander  H.  Stephens  in  this 
country,  and  from  the  great  host  of  men — as  good 
and  as  true — without  their  high  mental  endowments, 
and  who  have  never  come  to  fame,  or  to  power,  or 
public  position.  In  the  third  lecture  the  power  of 
manliness  was  exhibited  in  public  or  civic  life,  and 
incidents  in  the  lives  of  such  men  as  John  Stuart 
Mill,  Charles  Sumner,  Burke,  Macaulay,  Lincoln, 
and  Garfield  were  cited  to  show  that  men  might  be 
brought  conspicuously  before  the  public,  placed  in 
critical  and  emergent  positions  and  relations,  and 
not  deviate  the  millionth  part  of  a hair’s  breadth 
from  righteousness.  In  the  fourth  lecture  the  pres- 
ence of  manliness  was  shown  in  the  realm  of  litera- 
ture, and  the  careers  of  Prescott,  Wordsworth,  Scott, 
and  Shakespeare  were  briefly  recounted  in  order  to 
show  that  moral  sanity  was  the  substruction  of  last- 
ing genius,  that  all  genius  that  did  not  have  under- 
lying it  the  ethical — the  manliness — element  was  on 
its  way  to  dissolution  and  death.  In  the  fifth  lect- 
ure it  was  disclosed  that  in  history  manliness  was 
sovereign  ; that  the  final  arbitraments  of  fame  are 
made  to  depend  upon  righteousness,  and  that  all 
corrupt,  false,  unrighteous  men  hasten  to  such  an 
eclipse  of  reputation  as  can  only  befall  those  whose 
great  powers  have  been  basely  prostituted  to  unholy 
purposes.  On  last  Sunday  evening  it  was  described 
as  undergoing  pain,  suffering,  obloquy,  persecution, 
defeat,  failure;  and  the  careers  of  Washington,  and 
Milton,  and  Wellington,  and  other  great  men  were 


102 


Christian  Manliness . 


so  far  opened  up  as  to  show  that  a man  could  fight 
against  both  wind  and  tide  if  the  root  of  the  matter 
was  in  him. 

Now,  what  is  the  result  or  meaning  of  it  all  ? I am 
sure,  in  the  first  place,  that  those  of  you  who  have 
been  here  during  the  delivery  of  this  course  of  lect- 
ures must  have  formed  a higher  estimate  of  human 
nature,  of  the  moral  greatness  of  man.  It  is  well  that 
you  have;  for  there  are  so  many  unmanly  men,  so 
many  tricky  men,  so  many  disingenuous  men,  so 
many  cowards  and  impostors,  liars  and  sneaks  in  the 
world,  so  many  cruel  men,  so  many  treacherous  men, 
that  one  must  feel  refreshed  and  quickened  to  be 
brought  into  the  presence  of  men  who  scorn  to  do 
a mean  thing.  Well,  now,  that  is  the  way  we  ought 
to  judge  human  nature.  Some  people  judge  human 
nature  as  a man  would  who,  going  in  the  fall  to  an 
apple-tree  hanging  full  of  apples,  makes  diligent 
search  for  all  the  mean,  scrawny,  corrupted,  taste- 
less apples  there  are,  and  then  says  : “ Ah  ! these  are 
the  kind  of  apples  that  this  wonderful  tree  pro- 
duces ! ” That  is  not  a fair  test  for  any  tree  ; 
take  the  finest  apples  it  will  produce  under  the  best 
conditions,  and  they  are  the  apples  which  it  ought 
to  produce.  That  is  the  kind  of  apples  the  tree  was 
intended  to  produce,  and  it  will  produce  that  kind 
in  genial  soil  and  under  proper  cultivation.  When 
I see  a bungler  taking  his  seat  on  the  organ  stool  I 
never  blame  the  organ  ; I wait  for  somebody  who 
knows  how  to  evoke  its  subtle  and  wonderful  har- 
monies before  I pass  final  judgment  on  the  instru- 


Spiritual  Prophecies  of  Christian  Manliness . 103 

ment.  And  when  I want  to  know  how  I am  to 
judge  men,  I will  not  run  around  and  pick  out  all 
the  low,  base,  mean,  cowardly  men  I can  find,  and 
say,  “This  is  human  nature!”  There  are  some 
men  who  would  rather  be  vultures  than  eagles ; 
there  are  some  people  who  enjoy  a feast  of  carrion 
seven  days  in  the  week  better  than  any  thing  else  ! 
An  eagle  never  eats  carrion;  he  flies  too  high  to 
smell  it.  To  judge  human  nature  fairly  and  hon- 
orably, take  the  best  men  the  race  has  produced 
under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  and  remember 
that  every  man  has  in  him  the  same  moral  capaci- 
ties. That  man  yonder  may  be  coarse,  he  may  be 
vulgar,  he  may  be  dishonest,  he  may  be  treacherous, 
he  may  be  warped  by  his  inheritance,  his  training, 
his  circumstances,  but  (God  pity  him  !)  he  has  in 
him  all  the  moral  capacities,  potentialities,  that 
other  men  have,  and  I will  not  despise  him,  I will 
not  revile  him,  I will  not  judge  him  narrowly  and 
harshly,  for  he  is  my  brother,  since  he  is  my  Father’s 
child. 

These  lectures  have  brought  before  us  a large 
body  of  most  significant  facts — facts  that  need  to 
be  accounted  for,  explained,  in  some  way.  They 
are  facts  after  their  own  kind,  they  are  ethical  facts, 
spiritual  facts,  invisible  facts,  impalpable  facts,  but 
facts  nevertheless.  Some  people  have  no  idea  of 
a fact  except  it  be  as  a stone,  or  a mountain,  or  a 
brick  wall,  or  some  solid  material  substance  they 
can  put  their  hands  or  feet  upon.  There  are  those 
who  think  that,  when  you  use  the  word  “fact,”  you 


104 


Christian  Manliness . 


must  confine  it  to  realities  of  weight,  to  facts  of 
number,  to  facts  of  color,  to  purely  material  facts  ; 
but  there  are  facts  that  you  cannot  color,  or  num- 
ber, or  weigh,  or  touch,  or  handle,  or  see,  or  taste. 
You  buy  a pound  of  coffee  from  a man,  and  his 
scales  are  half  an  ounce  too  light ; you  have  in  your 
hand  a pound  of  coffee  less  half  an  ounce — that  is 
one  fact ; you  have  in  your  head  the  knowledge  that 
your  grocer  is  dishonest — and  that  is  as  much  a fact 
as  the  other  is,  only  you  cannot  take  it  up  in  your 
hand,  weigh  it,  or  carry  it  off  with  you  in  a bundle. 
Courage  is  a fact — as  much  a fact  as  the  Rocky 
Mountains;  it  is  as  much  a fact  as  the  granite  bases  of 
Mount  Washington.  Truth — that  is  as  much  a fact 
as  the  eternal  hills.  Dutifulness — that  is  a fact,  just 
as  much  as  a stone,  or  a picture,  or  a church,  or  a 
cathedral  is  a fact.  Love,  brotherliness,  kindliness 
of  disposition — these  are  facts,  only  they  are  not 
palpable,  tangible,  material,  objective  facts ; they 
are  immaterial,  invisible,  spiritual. 

H ow  shall  we  account  for  these  facts?  Do  they 
suggest  any  thing?  What  is  their  spiritual  signifi- 
cance? I propose,  first  of  all,  to  take  that  theory 
of  our  life  proposed  by  modern  unbelief,  and  apply 
it  to  these  facts,  and  see  if  that  will  account  for 
them.  Modern  unbelief  may  be  comprehensively 
described  under  four  heads:  Materialism,  Agnosti- 
cism, Fate,  Annihilation. 

Materialism  asserts  that  man  is  not  a double  be- 
ing, but  simply  an  organism  of  matter;  that  what 
we  call  thought,  emotion,  will,  conscience — all  the 


Spiritual  Prophecies  of  Christian  Manliness . 105 

spiritual  elements  that  are  supposed  to  belong  to 
our  natures — are  simply  the  results  of  certain  mo- 
lecular changes  of  the  cerebral  matter.  I might 
even  go  farther  and  run  the  risk  of  securing  a repu- 
tation for  pedantry  by  saying  that  materialism  as- 
serts that  thought  is  a secretion  of  the  white  and 
gray  matter  of  the  brain  under  certain  molecular 
conditions.  I suppose  you  understand  that ; I hope 
you  do  ; I do  not ! The  theory  of  materialism  is 
that  there  is  nothing  spiritual  in  man  ; that  all  there 
is  of  him  is  the  body  of  matter;  highly  organized, 
it  is  true,  but,  after  all,  man  is  simply  a physical 
being.  When  you  take  this  small,  dwarfish,  petty 
theory  of  materialism,  and  put  it  along-side  of  the 
great  moral  and  spiritual  facts  which  we  have  been 
studying,  you  cannot  account  for  them.  If  we  are 
going  to  be  materialists  we  ought  to  be  willing  to 
be  materialists ; we  ought  fully  to  accept  the  logical 
results  of  our  philosophy.  Bacon  has  taught  us, 
and  modern  science,  following  in  his  wake,  has 
taught  us,  that  we  are  to  accept  that  theory  or  hy- 
pothesis of  any  class  of  facts  which  most  easily  and 
rationally  accounts  for  the  greatest  number;  that 
hypothesis  is  to  be  accepted  by  means  of  which  the 
greatest  number  of  facts  sort  themselves  ipto  har- 
mony. You  take  materialism,  and  put  it  along-side 
of  these  facts,  and  none  of  them  sort  themselves 
into  harmony. 

Agnosticism  is  an  armed  neutrality  of  the  intel- 
lect as  to  the  existence  of  God,  and  especially  as  to 
his  person,  attitude,  and  character;  it  neither  denies 


io6  Christian  Manliness . 

nor  affirms  that  there  is  a God.  There  is  a milder 
form  of  agnosticism  with  which  men  of  warm,  fervid 
temperaments  are  tinctured  ; men  who  do  not  deny 
the  existence  of  a Supreme  Something,  men  who 
have  gone  beyond  that  phase  of  agnosticism,  but 
who  do  deny  that  we  know  any  thing  about  his 
character,  or  that  we  know,  or  can  know,  whether 
he  is  a person  or  not.  They  assert  that  he  may  be 
a power,  or  a law,  or  a stream  of  tendency,  we  can- 
not tell  what.  Take  this  theory  of  agnosticism,  and 
put  it  along-side  of  this  class  of  facts,  and  can  you 
explain  them  ? Can  you  explain  why  a weak 
woman  should  meekly  suffer  through  long  years,  on 
the  theory  that  moral  character  is  indifferent  to 
whoever  made  the  universe  and  man?  I cannot; 
I stand  in  the  presence  of  such  a woman,  suffering, 
toiling,  giving  her  life  for  her  children  in  poverty 
and  obscurity,  without  a murmur  or  complaint — 
and  then  I am  told  that  the  Being,  or  Power,  or 
whoever  or  whatever  it  is  that  created  the  woman, 
is  utterly  indifferent  to  her,  careless  whether  she 
suffers  or  not.  Such  a theory  as  that  does  not  ac- 
count for  the  facts ; it  leaves  the  facts  discordant, 
unrelated,  unexplained,  inexplicable. 

Fate  is  the  doctrine  that  on  the  whole  we  can- 
not do  any  better  than  we  have  done  and  are  now 
doing;  that  our  circumstances  are  such,  our  envi- 
ronment is  such,  our  inheritances  are  such,  our 
teachings  and  teachers  have  been  such,  and  our 
work  is  such  that  we  could  not  well  make  any 
other  volitions  than  those  we  are  now  exercising. 


Spiritual  Prophecies  of  Christian  Manliness . 107 

I take  that  theory  and  put  it  along-side  of  the  lives 
of  these  men  who  have  battled  circumstances.  I put 
it  along-side  of  the  plain  boy  in  the  rude,  rough, 
unpainted  New  Hampshire  farm-house;  a boy  with- 
out learning,  without  powerful  friends.  I put  it 
along-side  of  that  poor  boy,  and  I mark  his  career 
as  he  battled  circumstances,  and  beat  them  down, 
and  trampled  on  them,  and  then  bravely  went  on 
until  he  came  to  others  and  beat  them  down.  And  I 
read  in  history  how  men  have  thus  triumphed  again 
and  again,  and  I see  in  human  life  all  about  me 
men  and  women  who  in  the  presence  of  difficulties 
well-nigh  insuperable  have  risen  to  divine  heights 
and  by  the  power  of  the  spiritual  being  within 
them  have  conquered  all  difficulties,  overcome  all 
obstacles,  and  I see  clearly  that  this  materialistic, 
mechanical  theory  of  fate  and  environment  will  not 
account  for  the  facts. 

The  other  word  descriptive  of  modern  doubt  is 
annihilation ; that  man,  being  a material  being,  hav- 
ing no  spirit  element  in  him,  is  doomed  to  extinc- 
tion ; that  death  ends  all.  Well,  my  friends,  it  de- 
pends upon  whose  dead  body  you  are  looking  at.  If 
you  look  at  that  of  Guiteau,  I do  not  wonder  that  you 
believe  in  annihilation ; but  when  I look  at  that  of 
Garfield,  I do  not  believe  it.  If  I was  God  (I  speak 
with  reverence)  I would  not  make  such  a man  as 
Shakespeare,  or  Milton,  or  Lincoln,  or  Garfield,  and 
then  stamp  him  out  forever.  What  kind  of  a theory 
of  the  universe  is  that  which  assigns  to  things  of  rel- 
atively little  value  a vast  sweep  of  being,  and  then 
8 


io8 


Christian  Manliness . 


to  choice,  noble,  gifted  spirits  gives  only  a few  troub- 
led years  of  life?  What  kind  of  a theory  of  the  uni- 
verse is  that,  I ask,  which  gives  to  rocks  and  hills  and 
oak-trees,  to  globes  and  suns,  millenniums  of  life,  and 
to  great  and  noble  and  princely  spirits,  like  Shake- 
speare and  Milton  and  Washington  and  Greeley  and 
Prescott  and  Wordsworth  and  Scott,  only  thirty  or 
forty  or  fifty  years  ? 

“ There  is  no  death  ! The  stars  go  down 
To  rise  upon  some  fairer  shore, 

And  bright  in  heaven’s  jeweled  crown 
They  shine  forever  more.” 

Now,  take  the  Christian  hypothesis;  take  the 
great  first  truths  of  religion  and  apply  them  to  this 
body  of  facts,  and  let  us  see  if  the  facts  will  not  at 
once  begin  to  arrange  themselves  into  order  and 
harmony  and  consistency.  It  is  a truth  of  religion 
that  man  is  a spiritual  being,  that  his  body  is  a 
temporary  dwelling-place  of  his  spirit — as  a shell 
very  good  to  preserve  the  kernel,  as  a casket  only 
valuable  for  the  sake  of  the  jewel  within — but  that 
the  real  man  is  the  inside,  invisible  spirit-man.  I 
take  this  doctrine  that  man  is  a spirit,  and  I put  it 
along-side  the  spiritual  facts  which  we  have  been 
studying,  and  I see  at  once  that  a spiritual  being 
would  be  likely  to  do  just  such  things.  Just  as  I 
fail  to  see  how  a material  being  could  do  such 
things,  so  do  I see  why  a spiritual  being  could  and 
would  do  them  ; and,  therefore,  according  to  the 
very  first  postulate  of  modern  science,  I accept  the 
latter  theory.  The  former  theories  fail  to  account 


Spiritual  Prophecies  of  Christian  Manliness . 109 

for  the  facts,  the  latter  theory  does  account  for 
them. 

It  is  the  teaching  of  religion  not  only  that  God  is, 
but  that  he  is  a Moral  Ruler  ; that  he  has  a distinct, 
positive,  ascertainable,  realizable,  ethical  character ; 
that  he  seeks  righteousness,  that  he  seeks  it  in  his 
children,  that  he  loves  it  wherever  he  sees  it ; that 
all  the  processes  of  spiritual  development  that  are 
going  on  every-where  are  intended  to  culminate  in 
such  holiness  as  will  enable  obedient  moral  natures 
to  be  eternally  joined  to  his  nature.  I take  this 
doctrine  of  the  ethical  character  and  personality  of 
God,  and  I take  the  other  truth,  that  man  is  God’s 
child,  and  then  I look  at  these  great  things  that 
men  have  done,  these  great  moral  acts  of  which  they 
are  the  subjects,  and  they  seem  to  me  to  be  ex- 
plained under  the  moral  rule  of  such  a God. 

It  is  the  teaching  of  religion  that  man  is  morally 
responsible.  It  graduates  this  doctrine  of  responsi- 
bility in  proportion  to  our  knowledge,  to  our  oppor- 
tunities, to  our  powers,  to  our  light ; it  demands 
much  where  much  has  been  given,  and  little  where 
little  has  been  given ; it  beats  the  man  who  knew 
the  Lord’s  will  and  would  not  do  it  with  many 
stripes,  and  the  man  who  knew  little  about  it  with 
few  stripes.  Nevertheless  it  reins  men  up  to  a sharp 
responsibility,  declaring,  despite  all  the  talk  of  mod- 
ern unbelief,  that  men  responsible  for  what  they 
do,  for  what,  they  think,  for  what  they  become,  for 
what  they  love  and  hate ; and  when  I remember 
these  things,  and  see  how  these  men  did  act — as 


I IO 


Christian  Manliness . 


though  they  really  were  responsible — when  I read 
their  careers  as  they  were  carrying  the  nations 
through  dark  places,  when  I read  how  Lincoln  cried 
out  to  God  in  the  midst  of  the  great  Civil  War, 
striving  to  rescue  this  nation  from  disunion  and  dis- 
memberment, when  I remember  these  things,  I ac- 
cept the  truth  of  a stringent  responsibility  for  all 
we  do  in  this  world. 

Another  great  truth  of  religion  is  immortality. 
Death,  the  last  mystery  and  the  last  enemy,  is  vin- 
cible by  Christian  manliness.  This  manliness,  which 
has  won  such  glorious  victories  in  the  history  of  the 
race,  shall  not  in  its  turn  be  conquered  by  death. 
It  has  conquered  every  thing  else,  and  death  shall 
not  be  its  conqueror.  Its  eternal  home  is  not  in 
the  darksome  grave,  but  among  the  splendid  stars. 
Death  cannot  destroy  manhood.  Did  I not  say 
that  it  was  the  child  of  God,  and  will  he,  after  ap- 
pointing unto  it  such  splendid  victories  as  it  has 
won  here,  will  he  permit  the  quick  grave  to  swallow 
it  up  forever?  My  friends,  the  argument  for  the 
future  life  is  not  physical,  not  logical,  but  ethical. 
Remember  the  great  words  of  Daniel  Webster  in 
his  celebrated  eulogy  on  Jeremiah  Mason:  “Con- 
science is  an  inheritance  for  eternity.”  What  did 
he  mean  by  it  ? The  facts  of  conscience  are  so  sig- 
nificant that  they  transcend  time  limits.  All  at- 
tempts to  bound  them  by  time  must  fail.  “ Con- 
science is  an  inheritance  for  ETERNITY.”  This 
manhood,  though  it  be  indeed  developed  (as  says 
our  great  infidel  charmer),  in  “ the  narrow  vale  of 


Spiritual  Prophecies  of  Christian  Manliness.  1 1 1 

life,”  does  not  see,  rising  on  either  side  of  it,  “ the 
cold  and  barren  peaks  of  two  eternities.”  It  sees 
those  peaks,  but  it  sees  them  clothed  with  verdure, 
and  radiant  in  the  warm  embrace,  the  glad  sun- 
shine of  an  infinite  Father’s  love.  Its  vision  is  be- 
yond those  heights.  It  sees  in  the  eternity  that  is 
past  the  slow  unfolding  of  a mighty  plan.  It  sees 
in  the  eternity  that  is  to  come  the  gracious  and 
solemn  consummation  of  that  plan.  The  vast  dome 
of  the  sky  of  its  hope  is  lighted  up  with  more  than 
one  star.  Its  listening  love  hears  the  rustling  wings 
of  an  uncounted  host  of  angels.  Somewhere  in  the 
undiscovered  country  there  must  be  for  this  regal 
manhood  a perfect  temple,  an  ample  home,  and  an 
eternal  life. 

Let  us  hear,  then,  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter.  Be  a mechanic?  No!  First  of  all,  be  a 
man.  Be  a merchant?  No!  You  had  better,  first 
of  all,  be  a man.  Be  a lawyer?  No!  First  be  a 
man.  Be  a banker?  No!  First  be  a man.  Be  a 
preacher?  No!  Then  be  trebly  sure  that  you  are 
a man.  Be  a man  ! Be  a man  ! ! Be  a man  ! ! ! 
Aspire  after  courage,  dutifulness,  love.  Be  true,  be 
open,  be  genuine,  be  sincere.  Aim  at  nothing  less 
than  the  perfect  manhood  of  Jesus  Christ.  And 
then,  when  the  end  comes,  in  the  fine  words  of  Em- 
erson, “may  the  heavens  open  and  take  you  away  ! ” 

“ O I who  would  not  a champion  be 
In  this,  the  lordlier  chivalry  ? 

Uprouse  ye  now,  brave  brother  band, 

With  honest  heart  and  working  hand, 


I 12 


Christian  Manliness . 


We  are  but  few,  toil-tried,  but  true, 

And  hearts  beat  high  to  dare  and  do ; 

O ! there  be  those  who  ache  to  see 
The  day-dawn  of  our  victory  ! 

Eyes  full  of  heart-break  with  us  plead, 

And  watchers  weep,  and  martyrs  bleed  ; 

Work,  brothers,  work!  Work,  hand  and  brain; 
We’ll  win  the  Golden  Age  again, 

And  Love’s  millennial  morn  shall  rise, 

In  happy  hearts  and  blessed  eyes. 

We  will,  we  will,  brave  champions  be, 

In  this,  the  lordlier  victory  ! ” 


The  Desire  for  Death. 


113 


THE  DESIRE  FOR  DEATH. 

But  he  himself  went  a day’s  journey  into  the  wilderness,  and  came 
and  sat  down  under  a juniper-tree : and  he  requested  for  himself 
that  he  might  die;  and  said,  It  is  enough  ; now,  O Lord,  take  away 
my  life ; for  I am  not  better  than  my  fathers. — I Kings  xix,  4. 

There  is  a striking  contrast  between  divine  and 
human  biographies.  The  Bible  gives  the  whole  of 
a human  character.  It  neither  unduly  extols  the 
virtues  nor  extenuates  the  vices  of  its  martyrs  and 
heroes,  saints  and  apostles.  It  does  not  labor  to 
conceal  the  frailties  and  sins  which  every-where 
attach  to  our  imperfect  human  nature.  It  does  not 
seek  to  cover  up  and  hide  the  follies  and  the  in- 
firmities, the  crimes  and  treacheries  and  apostasies, 
of  which  not  a few  of  its  prominent  subjects  were 
guilty.  With  a certain  noble  fearlessness,  it  relates 
the  falls  and  weaknesses  of  its  prophets,  psalm- 
ists, lawgivers,  kings,  judges,  priests,  and  apostles. 
Human  biographies  are  careful  to  relate  only  the 
meritorious  actions  of  their  subjects.  One  would 
suppose  in  reading  them  that  great  and  good  men 
lived  absolutely  stainless,  faultless  lives.  No  moral 
overthrows,  no  glaring  faults,  no  weak  and  despair- 
ing hours,  no  bitter  repentance  of  excuseless  sins 
are  allowed  to  disfigure  the  fair  record  of  spotless 
human  lives.  The  guilt,  the  weakness,  the  fail- 
ures, the  contradictions  that  are  nowhere  separable 


Christian  Manliness. 


114 

from  men  are  diligently  excluded  from  any  of  the 
religious  biographies  and  works  we  so  eagerly  de- 
vour. Modern  religious  biographies  “ give  us  not 
only  the  cream  of  the  lives  of  their  heroes,  but  very 
often  that  cream  is  churned  into  butter.”  In  the 
text  we  have  fearlessly  and  frankly  related  the  sud- 
den terror  and  flight,  and  the  subsequent  discour- 
agement and  despondency,  of  Elijah.  In  the  ma- 
jority of  religious  biographies  such  an  incident 
would  never  have  found  a place.  It  would  have 
been  thought  fatally  discreditable  to  a modern  relig- 
ious hero  to  have  acted  as  Elijah  is  here  reported 
to  have  acted,  and  his  biographer  would  certainly 
have  resorted  to  every  known  literary  device  in  or- 
der to  conceal  his  weakness  and  disgrace. 

This  refreshing  truthfulness  of  the  Bible  consti- 
tutes one  of  the  most  convincing  evidences  of  its 
superhuman  origin.  The  Bible  is  God’s  book,  and 
God  can  afford  to  tell  the  truth.  If  uninspired  and 
calculating  men  had  written  the  Bible,  they  would 
have  carefully  excluded  the  slightest  reference  to 
the  intoxication  of  Noah,  the  impatience  of  Moses, 
the  deceit  of  Abraham,  the  greed  of  Jacob,  the 
adultery  of  David,  the  intolerance  of  John,  and  the 
denial  of  Peter.  God  has  given  us  a book  true  to 
our  manifold  ffuinan  life.  The  good  and  bad,  the 
base  and  the  noble,  pf  our  humanity  are  here.  Its 
high  resolves  and  its  poor  performance,  its  lofty 
yearnings  and  its  mean  selfishness,  its  holy  prayers 
and  its  impure  deeds,  its  exalted  bravery  and  its 
miserable  cowardice,  its  glorious  angelic  affinities 


The  Desire  for  Death . 115 

and  its  swinish  appetites,  all  are  here.  God  was 
not  in  a hurry  to  complete  his  Bible,  he  waited  four 
thousand  years ; but  when  he  gave  it  to  the  world 
it  was  a real,  true,  brave  book.  It  is  a faithful  rec- 
ord of  human  failure  and  human  success.  Let  us 
reverently  thank  God  for  the  Bible  as  it  is,  and 
not  as  a modern  assembly  of  divines  would  have 
made  it. 

The  outlines  of  a strange  and  unexpected  picture 
are  sketched  for  us  by  the  text.  Not  that  there  is 
any  thing  passing  strange  in  a man  becoming  dis- 
gusted with  himself,  growing  weary  of  human  life, 
and  wanting  once  for  all  to  rid  himself  of  its  duties 
and  responsibilities,  its  sorrows  and  burdens.  Not 
alone  in  the  wilderness  of  Southern  Judea,  in  a re- 
mote age,  among  an  alien  people ; but  now,  to-day, 
here  in  America,  men  are  crying,  “ It  is  enough. 
Now,  O'  Lord,  take  away  my  life.  The  sin  is 
enough,  the  suffering  is  enough,  the  ignorance,  the 
struggle,  the  toil,  the  pain  is  enough,  the  darkness 
is  enough,  the  failure  is  enough.  Let  me  die.  Re- 
lease me  from  the  strife  and  pain  and  defeat.”  No  ! 
There  is  nothing  remarkably  strange  in  all  this. 
But  that  Elijah  wanted  to  die,  that  Elijah  grew 
weary  of  life,  that  Elijah  should  flee  from  duty,  that 
Elijah  should  play  the  coward,  that  Elijah  should 
distrust  God,  that  he  who  had  defied  Ahab  face  to 
face,  dictating  his  own  terms ; that  he  who  had 
boldly  confronted  the  four  hundred  and  fifty  priests 
of  Baal  on  Mt.  Carmel,  and  put  them  all  to  death ; 
that  this  man,  who  by  a word  had  called  down  fire 


Ii6  Christian  Manliness . 

from  heaven,  should  flee  at  the  threat  of  a heathen 
woman,  and  should  throw  himself  under  a juniper- 
tree  and  ask  for  death,  confessing  that  he  was  no 
better  than  his  fathers,  all  this  is  strange  and  unex- 
pected. Elijah,  then,  was  a man  after  all.  He,  too, 
had  his  weak,  despondent,  faithless  hours.  He,  too, 
grew  weary  of  the  toil  and  strife.  Like  ourselves, 
he  thought  the  evil  in  himself  and  the  world  too 
great  to  be  conquered.  “ It  is  enough ; now,  O 
Lord,  take  away  my  life/’  We  see,  then,  that  Eli- 
jah belonged  to  a humanity  like  our  own.  He  was 
not  a celestial,  but  a human,  being.  I am  glad,  not 
that  Elijah  failed  at  a critical  hour,  not  that  he  be- 
came disheartened,  weary  of  himself  and  the  world, 
and  wanted  to  die ; but  that  when  he  did  do  so  the 
Bible  was  brave  enough  to  tell  us  of  it.  That  one 
experience  unites  us  all  to  Elijah.  We  have  our 
hours  of  discouragement  and  flight.  We,  too,  grow 
faithless.  We,  too,  would  fain  seek  the  rest  of 
death.  Let  us  not  on  this  account  judge  ourselves 
too  swiftly  or  too  harshly.  A great  prophet,  yea, 
one  of  the  greatest  of  the  prophets,  did  the  like  be- 
fore us  ; and  as  there  was  hope  and  recovery,  and  sub- 
sequent work  for  him,  so  there  may  be  hope  and  res- 
toration and  new  life  for  us.  Let  us  not  forget  that 
true  Christian  progress  is  made  by  a divine  forget- 
ting of  the  past. 

Why  did  Elijah  want  to  die?  What  were  the 
causes  of  his  weakness  and  hopelessness?  There 
are  two  probable  reasons  for  his  exceptional  con- 
duct. 


The  Desire  for  Death.  nj 

First,  it  may  have  been  because  his  sublime  vic- 
tory on  Mt.  Carmel  was  not  instantly  followed  by 
as  great  results  as  he  ardently  desired.  Ahab,  the 
Jewish  king  of  Samaria,  was  married  to  Jezebel,  a 
heathen  princess.  This  woman  had  overthrown  the 
religion  of  the  Jews,  and  had  introduced  the  wor- 
ship of  Baal  and  Astarte.  The  whole  land  was 
overrun  with  idolatry.  The  aim  of  Elijah  was  to 
overthrow  Baalism  and  restore  monotheism.  His 
prophetic  soul  burned  with  indignation  against  the 
impure  religion  of  the  Phenicians,  and  he  longed  to 
see  the  people  restored  to  their  ancient  spiritual  faith 
in  one  unseen,  almighty,  eternal  God.  On  Mt.  Car- 
mel, God  had  answered  his  simple,  earnest  prayer, 
and  the  people  had  shouted,  “ The  Lord,  he  is  the 
God  ! The  Lord,  he  is  the  God  ! ” Doubtless,  Eli- 
jah expected  that  this  was  but  the  beginning  of  a 
series  of  splendid  miracles,  which  should  have  their 
final  issue  in  the  utter  extirpation  of  the  foreign 
idolatry.  But  he  was  disappointed.  Things  went 
on  in  their  usual  course,  and  the  final  victory 
seemed  as  far  removed  as  ever.  Elijah  may  have 
been  dissatisfied  with  God’s  way  of  working.  He 
wanted  instant  and  complete  triumph.  He  could 
brook  no  delay.  His  restless  and  eager  soul  de- 
manded the  precipitate  destruction  of  the  religion 
of  Jezebel.  His  despondency  may  have  been 
caused  by  what  he  deemed  the  tardiness  of  God. 

Secondly,  Elijah  may  have  desired  death  simply 
because  of  shame  at  his  impulsive  and  ignoble  flight 
from  Jezebel.  It  will  be  remembered  that  after 


1 1 8 Christian  Manliness . 

Elijah’s  triumph  over  the  priests  of  Baal  he  took 
them  to  the  brook  Kishon  and  slew  four  hundred 
of  them  there  with  his  own  hands.  When  Ahab 
related  to  Jezebel  all  that  Elijah  had  done,  and 
withal  how  he  had  slain  all  the  prophets  with  the 
sword,  she  determined  to  wreak  swift  and  summary 
vengeance  upon  him.  No  sooner  had  Ahab  fin- 
ished his  story  than  she  sent  a messenger  to  Elijah, 
saying,  “ So  let  the  gods  do  to  me,  and  more  also, 
if  I make  not  thy  life  as  the  life  of  one  of  them  by 
to-morrow  about  this  time.”  It  is  related  that  when 
Elijah  “saw  that,”  that  is,  when  he  heard  of  Jezebel’s 
threat,  “ he  went  for  his  life,”  and  came  to  Beer- 
sheba.  Strange  he  never  thought  that  God  was 
stronger  than  the  rage  of  this  idolatrous  woman. 
He  doubted  God,  else  her  threat  would  have  been 
powerless.  His  bitter  prayer  for  death  may  have 
been  extorted  from  him  at  the  thought  of  his  dis- 
trust of  God.  “ I am  no  better  than  my  fathers.” 
He  had  honestly  desired,  eagerly  hoped,  to  be 
better,  but  here  he  was — just  like  his  fathers;  faith- 
less as  they  had  been  faithless  ! Better  than  his 
fathers — and  lo ! he  had  trembled  and  fled  at  the 
threat  of  a wicked  woman!  “It  is  enough,  Lord. 
I am  just  like  all  the  rest.  Take  away  my  life.” 

Is  it  right  for  good  men  ever  to  desire  death  ? 
If  so,  when,  and  in  what  spirit  ? If  we  desire  death 
in  the  spirit  of  Paul,  it  is  not  culpable  or  blame- 
worthy. In  his  letter  to  the  Corinthians  Paul  says : 
“ We  are  confident,  I say,  and  willing  rather  to  be 
absent  from  the  body,  and  to  be  present  with  the 


The  Desire  for  Death . 


1 19 


Lord.”  In  his  Philippian  letter  he  says  that  he  is 
“in  a strait  betwixt  two,  having  a desire  to  depart, 
and  to  be  with  Christ ; which  is  far  better : neverthe- 
less to  abide  in  the  flesh  is  more  needful  for  you.” 
Paul  was  not  a complainer.  He  was  not  an  idler. 
He  was  not  a coward.  He  did  not  desire  to  die 
that  he  might  be  released  from  labor.  He  was  not 
weary  of  the  battle  against  the  evil  that  is  in  the 
world.  He  expressly  says  that  his  desire  to  depart 
and  be  with  Christ  is  restrained  and  modified  by  a 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  he  was  still  needed  by 
the  Church  on  earth.  He  desired  death,  not  as  a 
cessation  of  labor,  but  as  an  admission  into  a higher, 
nobler,  worthier  ministry.  He  would  die  only  that 
he  might  do  more  and  better  work.  He  desired 
a departure  out  of  this  world  that  he  might  have 
more  and  fuller  life.  His  hope  was  that  mortality 
might  be  swallowed  up  of  life.  He  would  be  un- 
clothed, only  that  he  might  be  clothed  upon  with 
the  perfect  and  unshadowed  life  of  love  and  worship. 
In  this  spirit,  and  with  these  aims,  it  is  not  wrong  to 
desire  release  from  the  present  life.  It  is  always 
right  to  seek  freedom  when  emancipation  means 
enfranchisement. 

I.  We  are  not  to  desire  death  because  God  does 
not  work  exactly  after  our  fashion,  as,  perhaps,  not 
as  quickly  as  we  desire  him  to  work.  The  intense, 
earnest  workers  of  this  world  are  very  prone  to  be- 
come impatient  with  God,  as  well  as  with  their  tardy 
fellow-workmen.  They  have  such  a sharp  sense  of 
the  evil  that  is  here,  such  a tender  sympathy  with 


120 


Christian  Manliness . 


suffering,  such  a burning  hatred  of  sin,  such  a keen 
desire  for  the  recovery  of  men  to  holiness  and  love, 
such  a passionate  yearning  for  the  social  and  moral 
regeneration  of  society,  that  they  can  scarcely  abide 
God’s  patient  methods.  So  it  was  with  Elijah.  He 
would  have  God  rend  the  heavens,  and  descend  with 
an  army  of  angels,  utterly  to  consume  the  idolatry 
that  had  bewitched  and  lured  away  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple. He  was  not  willing  to  allow  space  for  the 
working  of  natural  processes  to  wean  the  people 
from  their  accursed  idolatry.  Nor  are  we  willing 
that  by  natural  spiritual  processes  men  shall  learn 
the  beauty  of  holiness  and  the  deformity  of  sin.  We 
are  for  precipitating  things.  We  are  for  demanding 
the  employment  of  supernatural  power  where  natu- 
ral power,  where  natural  agencies  only,  can  finally  and 
effectually  avail.  God  works  slowly,  but  he  does 
his  work  well.  When  once  he  has  completed  a task 
it  is  done  forever.  We  are  impatient  because  we 
have  but  a morsel  of  time  in  which  to  work.  Not 
so  with  him.  He  is  the  Father  of  the  everlasting 
ages.  A thousand  years  in  his  sight  are  but  as  yes- 
terday when  it  is  past,  and  as  a watch  in  the  night. 
His  mills  grind  exceeding  slow,  but  they  grind  ; and 
they  grind  exceeding  fine.  We  are  to  do  that  part 
of  the  work  which  God  has  allotted  to  us  humbly, 
lovingly,  thoroughly,  and  then,  with  a serene  and 
unquestioning  faith,  we  are  to  leave  the  results  with 
him.  You  and  your  work  and  this  world  are  safe 
with  God. 

II.  We  are  not  to  desire  death  because  we  have 


The  Desire  for  Death . 12 1 

failed  in  some  trial-hour,  because  we  have  ignobly 
fled  when  we  should  have  bravely  stood,  because 
our  high,  fine,  noble  ideals  lie  withered  and  dying 
at  our  feet.  His  contact  with  Jezebel  was  the  trial- 
hour  of  Elijah’s  life.  In  that  hour,  of  all  hours,  he 
should  have  stood  firm  and  steadfast.  But  he 
yielded  and  fled.  There  come  like  trial-hours  to  all 
of  us.  We  may  not  be  aware  of  their  approach, 
and  we  may  not  fully  comprehend  all  that  is  wrapped 
up  in  them.  They  may  even  seem  insignificant  to 
us.  They  are,  nevertheless,  the  real  trial-hours  of 
our  lives.  They  test  us.  They  try  what  sort  of 
stuff  we  are  made  of.  They  touch  the  core  of  our 
manhood.  How  many  of  us  go  down  in  these  - 
hours!  How  many  of  us  are  unable  to  stand  the 
testing  process ! The  bait  of  evil  is  too  glittering 
and  seductive  for  all  the  manhood  we  have,  and  we 
bite — to  find  but  an  empty  hook. 

With  what  high,  pure,  lofty  ideals  did  we  all  begin 
life  ! Like  Elijah,  we  were  determined  to  be  better 
than  our  fathers.  Where  now  are  our  high  pur- 
poses, our  chivalric  aims,  our  holy  resolves?  We 
have  dragged  them  down,  and  they  are  covered  with 
the  common  dust  of  life.  It  is  when  men  be- 
come sadly  conscious  of  these  things  that  they  run 
away  from  the  unfulfilled  tasks  of  life,  and,  dis- 
couraged and  despondent,  ask  God  for  death.  But 
these  are  not  the  hours  in  which  we  should  desire 
to  die.  It  is  not  when  he  has  proven  recreant  to 
his  high  duty  that  the  soldier  is  to  ask  for  his  dis- 
charge from  the  army.  Rather  he  should  then,  with 


122 


Christian  Manliness . 


tears,  if  need  be,  beseech  his  commander  to  send  him 
back  to  the  most  difficult  and  dangerous  post,  that 
by  his  future  courageous  fidelity  he  may  shame  and 
retrieve  the  cowardice  of  the  past.  Not  in  hours 
that  follow  failure  and  recreancy  and  sin  are  we  to 
desire  death.  Then  most  fervently  should  we  be- 
seech God  for  a new  lease  of  life  and  a fresh  trial, 
that  we  may  atone  for  the  guilty  and  bitter  past  by 
the  more  noble  and  valorous  action  of  the  future. 

III.  We  are  not  to  desire  death  because  we  think 
we  have  suffered  enough.  What  an  army  of  suf- 
ferers God  has  in  this  world  ! If  they  were  to  march 
past  us  this  morning,  what  an  array  of  anguish  they 
would  present.  Think  of  the  blind,  of  the  deaf,  of 
the  dumb,  of  the  deformed,  of  the  crippled,  of  the 
weak,  of  the  hopeless  invalids!  How  many  are  suf- 
fering from  physical  causes!  How  many  who  are 
never  free  from  pain ! How  many  are  slowly 
coughing  their  lives  away!  How  many  wasting 
with  fevers  ! How  many  are  outcasts  from  society 
through  no  fault  of  their  own!  How  many  who 
are  suffering  the  stings  of  grinding  poverty!  How 
many  are  torn  and  rent  with  hideous  doubts  ! How 
many  parents’  hearts  are  gashed  with  sorrow  at  the 
moral  recreancy  of  their  children  ! How  many  men 
are  broken  down  at  the  very  threshold  of  life,  its 
golden  prizes  seemingly  just  within  their  grasp  ! 
How  many  weary  hearts  are  saying  to-day,  “ It  is 
enough  ; now,  O Lord,  take  away  my  life  ! ” How 
many  white-faced  sufferers  are  looking  up  to  heaven, 
praying  God  to  release  them  ! How  many  sightless 


The  Desire  for  Death . 


123 


eye-balls  are  longing  for  that  land  where  the  Lord 
God  shall  give  them  light ! How  many  fiercely 
tempted,  fiend-goaded  souls  are  seeking  with  unut- 
terable longing  a city  far,  far  above  the  assoilments 
of  sin.  Ye  penitent,  suffering,  struggling  souls, 
judge  not  too  swiftly  your  wise  and  compassionate 
Father.  Not  the  marble,  but  the  sculptor,  is  to  judge 
of  the  finished  work.  “ Whom  the  Lord  loveth  he 
chasteneth.”  God  will  soon  deal  the  last  stroke,  the 
work  will  be  done,  and  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  your 
God  shall  be  upon  you  forever ! 

It  was  well  for  Elijah  that  God  did  not  answer 
his  impulsive  and  passionate  prayer.  ‘'The  time  and 
manner  of  his  death  were  better  in  the  divine  hands 
than  in  his  own  gloomy  and  despondent  thoughts. 
God  had  large  and  noble  work  for  him  to  do,  and 
right  well  did  he  do  it.  The  lonely  and  discouraged 
prophet  was  guided  to  the  solemn  and  majestic 
Horeb,  and  there,  amid  its  awful  solitudes,  he 
learned  that  there  were  seven  thousand  that  had 
not  bowed  the  knee,  and  that  God  was  in  the  still 
small  voice,  as  well  as  in  the  thunder  and  tempest 
and  earthquake  and  whirlwind  and  fire.  And  then, 
when  his  work  was  done  at  last,  the  chariot  of  fire 
and  horses  of  fire  came  to  take  him;  “and  Elijah 
went  up  by  a whirlwind  into  heaven.” 

Let  us  not  seek  to  appoint  the  hour  when  we 
would  cease  our  terrestrial  life  and  work.  Let  God 
choose  the  time  and  surroundings  for  our  departure. 
We  may  have  despondent  hours,  gloomy  hours, 

faithless  hours.  Let  us  not  hastily  and  impetuously 
9 


124 


Christian  Manliness . 


desire  death  in  them.  God  reserves  better,  braver, 
worthier  hours  for  us.  In  them  let  us  die — or,  rather, 
in  them  let  us  be  crowned : for  that  which  we  call 
death  is  but  a translation  from  darkness  to  light, 
from  unsatisfied  yearning  to  perpetual  fruition, 
from  time  and  toil  and  men  to  eternal  life  in  God ! 


Identification  of  Divinity  with  Humanit y.  125 


THE  IDENTIFICATION  OF  DIVINITY  WITH 
HUMANITY. 

For  which  cause  he  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren. — 
Heb.  ii,  n. 

There  need  be  no  misinterpretation  of  the  teach- 
ing of  the  text  and  its  connections.  Jesus  Christ, 
more  than  man,  higher  than  angel,  an  altogether 
extraordinary  and  unique  Being,  one  who  thought 
it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  the  Highest,  volun- 
tarily took  upon  himself  our  nature,  became  in  very 
deed  subject  to  the  conditions  and  limitations  under 
which  men  live,  that  he  might  rescue  them  from  sin 
and  vitally  unite  them  to  God.  “ For  both  he  that 
sanctifieth  and  they  who  are  sanctified  are  all  of 
one,”  that  is,  of  one  nature,  experience,  order  of 
development — the  nature,  experience,  and  order  of 
development  of  the  one  being  precisely  similar  to 
the  nature,  experience,  and  order  of  development 
of  the  other.  “ For  which  cause,”  that  is,  on  which 
account,  because  of  this  likeness,  this  identity,  of 
nature  and  experience,  “ he,”  that  is,  Jesus,  “is  not 
ashamed  to  call  them  brethren.”  Jesus  openly  and 
conspicuously  recognized  his  brotherhood  with  man 
in  distinct,  positive,  and  unmistakable  terms.  His 
message  to  the  disciples  on  the  resurrection  morn- 
ing through  Mary  was,  “Go  to  my  brethren,  and 


126 


Christian  Manliness . 


say  unto  them,  I ascend  to  my  Father  and  your 
Father,  and  to  my  God  and  your  God.”  So,  also, 
in  that  remarkable  discourse  which  is  contained  in 
the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  Matthew:  “ Inasmuch 
as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me.”  We  see 
thus  how  completely,  and  at  every  point,  Jesus 
joined  himself  to  human  nature.  The  text 
raises  for  our  consideration  the  high  and  grate- 
ful theme  of  the  identification  of  Divinity  with 
humanity. 

He  who  is  here  spoken  of  as  the  Sanctifier,  and 
as  of  one  nature  with  the  sanctified,  is  described  in 
terms  that  endow  him  with  the  sole  and  peculiar 
attributes  of  Divinity.  In  the  opening  of  this  epis- 
tle we  are  told  that  God,  who  had  heretofore  spoken 
to  men  by  the  prophets,  has  in  these  last  days 
spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son.  This  Son  is  declared 
to  be  appointed  Heir  of  all  things,  and  to  be  the 
Person  through  whom  the  worlds  were  made.  He 
is  said  to  uphold  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power, 
and  to  be  the  brightness  of  the  Father’s  glory  and 
the  express  image  of  his  person.  He  is  compared 
with  men,  and  is  set  far  above  them.  He  is  com- 
pared with  angels,  and  is  lifted  transcendently  above 
them  in  nature,  dignity,  authority,  and  power ; yea, 
the  angels  of  God  are  commanded  to  worship  him. 
Thus  we  see  Jesus  exalted  in  every  conceivable 
way  by  every  form  of  language,  by  the  possession 
of  the  most  supernal  and  divine  attributes,  until,  as 
he  is  raised  from  height  to  height,  touching  at  last 


Identification  of  Divinity  with  Humanity . 127 

the  very  summit  of  the  uncreated  life,  we  are  con- 
strained to  cry  out  with  Thomas,  “ My  Lord  and 
my  God.”  Then  it  is,  when  he  is  raised  to  the 
highest  point  of  his  exaltation,  when  he  is  carried 
up  to  the  very  apex  of  being,  then  it  is  that  he  is 
described  as  entering  upon  his  mighty  humiliation  ; 
then  it  is  that  he  is  pictured  as  assuming  our  nature 
and  entering  upon  the  actual  experience  of  human 
life,  work,  temptation,  suffering,  and  death.  “ We 
see  Jesus,  who  was  made  for  a little  while  inferior 
to  the  angels,  for  the  suffering  of  death,  crowned 
with  glory  and  honor ; that  he  by  the  grace  of  God 
should  taste  death  for  every  man.”  He  is  said  to 
have  come  to  the  moral  leadership  of  the  race,  in 
other  words,  to  have  been  “ perfected,”  through 
sufferings,  and  through  such  sufferings  as  are  com- 
mon to  men.  As  the  children  were  “ partakers  of 
flesh  and  blood,  he  also  himself  likewise  took  part 
of  the  same.”  He  became  obedient  unto  death, 
“ that  through  death  he  might  destroy  him  that  had 
the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil ; and  deliver 
them  who  through  fear  of  death  were  all  their  life- 
time subject  to  bondage.”  He  rejected  the  nature 
and  estate  of  angels,  and  took  upon  him  the  seed 
of  Abraham.  In  order  that  he  might  be  a merciful 
and  faithful  High-priest,  he  was  in  ALL  THINGS 
made  like  unto  his  brethren.  We  see  in  the  clear, 
revealing,  concentered  light  of  this  teaching  how 
real,  how  complete  and  thorough-going  was  the 
union  of  Divinity  and  humanity  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ.  “ For  both  he  that  sanctifieth  and 


128 


Christian  Manliness . 


they  who  are  sanctified  are  all  of  one : for  which 
cause  he  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren.” 

The  grateful  perfume  of  heaven  is  on  this  pas- 
sage. It  is  richly  odorous  of  the  skies.  Like  the 
fresh,  dewy  tuberose  by  the  bedside  of  the  wan  in- 
valid, it  suggests  the  whole  garden  of  flowers  from 
which  it  came.  It  is  as  a branch  of  the  great  tree 
of  life,  hanging  so  low  as  to  be  within  reach  of 
men’s  hands,  that  they  may  pluck  and  eat  and 
live  ! 

If,  now,  the  question  be  asked,  Why  this  amaz- 
ing condescension  of  Divinity,  and  its  intimate 
union  with  humanity?  the  final  and  sufficient  an- 
swer is  to  be  found  in  God’s  mighty  love  and  tender 
compassion  for  man.  This  sacrificial  condescension 
and  humiliation  was  born,  not  of  wrath  or  hatred, 
nor  of  any  supposed  governmental  necessity,  but 
of  the  free,  the  boundless  grace  and  kindness  of  God 
our  Father.  Why  does  a mother  enter  into  real, 
not  simulated,  sympathy  with  her  little  child,  bear- 
ing its  sorrows,  carrying  its  infirmities,  sharing  its 
joys?  Because  of  the  mother-love  that  is  in  her. 
So  God,  impelled  by  his  love,  becomes  one  with 
man,  sharing  our  human  estate  and  condition  in  all 
things  save  sin. 

i.  The  truth  of  this  passage  reveals  the  precise 
point  at  which,  and  with  how  great  fullness,  Chris- 
tianity meets  and  answers  the  deepest  and  strongest 
yearnings,  the  unappeasable  hunger,  of  the  human 
heart.  “Where  is  God,  that  we  may  find  him?” 
This  is  the  universal  question  of  time.  It  is  as  an- 


Identification  of  Divinity  with  Humanity . 1 29 

cient  as  Job.  “ 0 that  I knew  where  I might  find 
him  ; that  I might  come  even  to  his  seat : I would 
order  my  cause  before  him,  and  fill  my  mouth  with 
arguments.”  The  thinker,  perplexed  with  life’s 
enigmas,  has  asked,  Where  is  He?  Likewise  the 
doer,  the  sufferer,  the  slave,  the  guilty  penitent,  the 
oppressed,  the  lonely  and  sorrow-burdened,  all  alike 
have  asked,  Where  is  He? 

Man  has  ever  been  pursued  by  the  thdught  that 
God,  alike  by  the  quality  and  the  volume  of  his 
nature,  is  widely,  possibly  impassably,  separated 
from  us.  Hence  the  feeling  that  only  by  the  in- 
terposition of  an  anointed  priest,  or  of  an  infallible 
Church,  or  of  a bleeding  sacrifice,  or  by  gloomy  aus- 
terities, can  man  traverse  the  wide  and  desolate 
wastes,  and  draw  near  to  God.  This,  in  epitome, 
is  the  history  of  man’s  efforts  to  effect  a union  of 
Divinity  and  humanity;  namely,  an  age-long  strug- 
gle to  carry  our  frail,  imperfect,  temptable  humanity 
up  to  Divinity. 

Observe  how  Christianity  meets  this  want,  feeds 
this  hunger,  of  our  hearts.  God  is  already  nigh  us, 
if  we  would  but  receive  him.  He  is  not  far  from 
any  one  of  us,  if  haply  we  would  seek  for  him. 
Divinity  is  close  to  humanity.  There  is  a reunion 
of  Divinity  and  humanity,  not  by  the  slow,  labored, 
difficult,  perilous  ascent  of  humanity  to  Divinity, 
but  by  the  descent  of  Divinity  to  humanity.  In  a 
word,  we  do  not  seek  him  so  much  as  he  seeks  us. 
We  do  not  find  him  so  much  as  he  finds  us.  We 
need  not  ascend  on  high  to  bring  Christ  down,  nor 


130 


Christian  Manliness . 


descend  into  the  depths  to  bring  him  up ; for  he 
is  already  in  our  hearts.  He  has  come  to  us,  en- 
tered into  our  estate,  partaken  of  our  nature,  been 
subject  to  our  experiences,  and  is  not  ashamed  to 
call  us  brethren.  We  need  no  surpliced  priest,  no 
ancient  rite,  no  bleeding  lamb,  no  charm  of  words, 
to  come  into  union  with  him  ; we  need  only,  with 
truly  penitent  hearts,  to  turn  away  from  our  sins, 
to  accept  his  love,  and  to  be  obedient  to  his  words. 

Does  not  Christianity  thus  really  and  graciously 
discover,  and  amply,  yea,  gloriously,  satisfy  the 
deepest  yearnings,  the  holiest  longings,  the  divinest 
hunger  of  our  hearts? 

2.  This  doctrine  of  the  identification  of  the  Divine 
nature  with  man’s  nature  gives  intelligent  emphasis 
to  the  real  purpose  and  the  true  mission  of  the 
Church  in  the  world.  What  is  the  Church?  What 
does  it  exist  for?  A society  of  men  and  women 
who  acknowledge  with  their  lips,  and  who  seek  to 
realize  in  their  spiritual  life,  the  union  of  Divinity 
and  humanity.  The  Church  has  for  its  highest,  its 
special  and  distinctive,  object  the  revelation  to  the 
world  of  this  experimental  knowledge  of  God  ! It 
is  not  of  the  nature  of  a co-operative  insurance  soci- 
ety. It  is  not  a social  club.  It  is  not  a Sunday 
lectureship  on  ethics,  or  the  philosophy  of  religion. 
It  is  not  a jealously  guarded  hospital,  into  which  no 
patient  can  be  admitted  without  correctly  answering 
a long  list  of  hypothetical  or  merely  technical  ques- 
tions. The  Church  is  a society  of  men  and  women 
confessing  the  union  of  God  with  man,  recognizing 


Identification  of  Divinity  with  Humanity . 1 3 1 

the  actual  brotherhood  of  Jesus  with  all  men,  and 
hence  the  brotherhood  of  all  men  with  each  other; 
and  it  seeks  to  make  this  union  and  this  brother- 
hood real  and  vital,  actual  and  potent. 

How,  then,  may  we  ascertain  the  existence  of  a 
genuine  Christian  Church  in  the  community?  Not 
by  any  external  or  ceremonial  or  intellectual  sign  or 
symbol,  but  by  the  discovery  of  a society  of  people 
who  know  God  and  have  received  his  life.  How 
would  you  prove  to  a man  shivering  with  the  cold 
on  a bleak  December  day  that  there  is  fire  in  your 
stove?  The  quickest  and  surest  way  would  be  to 
bring  him  near  enough  to  your  stove  to  feel  the 
heat.  Heat  is  the  best  possible  proof  of  fire,  and 
there  is  no  surer  or  more  convincing  evidence  of 
the  reality  and  nearness  of  heat  than  to  feel  the 
warmth. 

3.  As,  in  the  far  and  wide-revealing  light  of  this 
Divine  teaching,  we  see  the  folly,  the  ingratitude, 
and  the  loss  of  those  who  separate  themselves  from 
God,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  do  we  see  the  liberation 
and  enfranchisement,  the  honor  and  glory  of  the 
soul  that  seeks  the  union  of  its  life  with  God.  What 
is  a sinner?  Passing  by  the  ordinary  definitions,  let 
us  try  to  answer  in  the  light  of  the  text.  He  is  one 
who  has  separated  himself  from  God ; he  is  one 
who  refuses  the  present  union  of  his  nature  with 
divinity.  What  folly,  misery,  ingratitude,  loss ! 
What  shall  we  say  of  the  branch  which,  restive  and 
impatient,  severs  itself  from  the  vine?  What 
would  we  think  of  this  earth  of  ours  growing  im- 


132 


Christian  Manliness . 


patient  of  its  dependence  on  gravity,  unfastening 
itself  from  law  and  order,  swinging  out  of  its  orbit, 
casting  off  its  allegiance  to  the  sun?  The  degra- 
dation of  the  prodigal  feeding  the  swine  consists  in 
this : that  he  was  made  for  better  things,  and  threw 
them  away  himself.  Our  subject  teaches  us  that 
man  was  made  for  blessed  union  with  God,  and 
when  he  separates,  divorces,  cuts  himself  off  from 
divinity,  we  see  in  a new  light  the  folly,  the  guilt, 
the  misery,  and  the  degradation  of  the  sinful  life. 

Men  sometimes  resent  appeals  to  enter  upon  the 
life  of  obedience  to  God,  as  though  the  act  involved 
something  humiliating,  unmanly,  weak,  and  dishon- 
orable. The  glory  of  the  self-willed,  wandering, 
outcast  child  is  its  return  to  its  old  home  and  its 
old  obedience.  The  prodigal  honors  and  enfran- 
chises himself  when  he  sets  his  conscience  toward 
duty,  his  heart  toward  his  father,  his  face  toward 
home.  See  the  wandering  globe,  tired  of  its  willful, 
zigzag,  eccentric  course,  returning  to  its  orbit  of 
harmony  and  order.  As  men  dishonor  themselves 
when  they  cut  loose  from  God,  so  they  honor  them- 
selves when  they  return  to  him.  He  is  our  home. 
He  is  the  source  of  our  life,  light,  righteousness,  and 
love.  See  yonder  Prince,  anciently  and  honorably 
descended,  heir  to  a throne  and  a kingdom,  clothed 
in  filthy,  tattered  raiment,  despising  his  birthright, 
madly  refusing  the  royal  purple  offered  him,  stamp- 
ing it  in  the  filth  with  angry  feet ! Is  he  dishonored 
when  he  throws  away  his  rags,  accepts  the  purple, 
and  starts  for  his  throne  and  scepter? 


Identification  of  Divinity  with  Humanity . 133 

% 

“ For  which  cause  he  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them 
brethren.”  He  who  once  had  not  where  to  lay  his 
head  is  now  set  down  at  the  right  hand  of  God, 
clothed  with  power  and  authority  and  majesty  in- 
effable ! He  who  once  was  despised  and  rejected 
of  men,  a man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief, 
is  now  raised  far  above  all  principality,  and  power, 
and  might,  and  dominion,  and  every  name  that  is 
named,  not  only  in  this  world,  but  also  in  that  which 
is  to  come,  and  on  his  brow,  thorn-pierced  no  more, 
is  set  the  lustrous  diadem  of  the  universe.  He  has 
been  glorified  with  the  glory  that  he  had  with  the 
Father  before  the  worlds  were.  I know  not  the 
measure,  the  quality,  the  fullness,  the  manifoldness 
of  that  glory.  I may  not  count  the  number  of 
those  who  stand  in  his  presence,  forever  released 
from  evil,  and  ignorance,  and  imperfection,  and 
struggle,  and  pain,  and  loss,  and  death.  To  me  it  is 
not  given  to  know  the  rapture  of  their  devotion, 
the  fervor  of  their  worship,  the  purity  of  their  love, 
the  sweep  of  their  song,  the  high  nobility  of  their 
tireless  work.  There  before  Him,  order  after  order, 
rank  on  rank,  hierarchy  above  hierarchy,  they  flame, 
and  worship,  and  adore,  and  serve — angels  and 
archangels,  cherubim  and  seraphim,  principalities 
and  powers,  thrones  and  dominions.  I know  not 
the  breadth,  or  length,  or  wealth,  or  splendor,  or 
power,  or  security  of  that  city  of  which  he  is  the 
king — its  streets  of  pure  gold,  its  walls  of  jasper,  its 
gates  of  pearl,  into  which  pour  the  honor  and  glory 
of  the  nations  ; a city  which  has  no  need  of  the  sun 


134 


Christian  Manliness . 


or  the  moon  to  shine  in  it,  for  the  glory  of  God 
does  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  Light  thereof. 
The  full,  unshaded  blaze  of  his  resplendent,  eternal 
glory  would  blind  our  poor,  weak  eyes,  but,  though 
I cannot  now  see  the  King  in  his  beauty,  in  the 
land  that  is  far  off,  this  I know:  that  as  he  beholds 
this  rolling  globe,  speeding  through  the  vast  and 
silent  spaces,  carrying  its  burden  of  guilt  and  mys- 
tery and  tears,  with  its  myriads  of  sinning,  suffering, 
struggling,  yearning  men,  He  is  not  ashamed,  even 
in  that  high  presence,  and  amid  the  radiance  of 
that  ample  and  unwasting  splendor,  to  turn  his 
eyes  hitherward,  and  say,  “ Yonder , YONDER,  are  my 
brethren  ! ” He  is  not  ashamed  of  his  brotherhood 
with  us.  Shall  we,  how  dare  we,  be  ashamed  of 
our  brotherhood  with  Him  ? Confess  it,  yield  to  it, 
live  in  it,  rejoice  in  it,  work  and  suffer  and  die  in 
it,  be  ennobled  and  purified  and  exalted  by  it  this 
day,  and  forever. 


E neon  rage  matt  to  Missionary  Zeal. 


135 


MODERN  PROGRESS  AN  ENCOURAGEMENT 
TO  MISSIONARY  ZEAL 

According  to  this  time  it  shall  be  said  of  Jacob  and  of  Israel, 
What  hath  God  wrought  ! — Num.  xxiii,  23. 

I WISH  to  speak  to  you,  from  these  words,  on 
modern  progress  as  an  incentive  to  missionary  zeal. 

The  definite,  comprehensive  aim  of  the  modern 
missionary  enterprise  is  the  complete,  universal  tri- 
umph of  Christianity.  It  will  be  the  moral  subju- 
gation of  the  entire  race.  It  is  nothing  short  of  the 
recovery  to  spiritual  manhood,  after  the  lofty  and 
perfect  model  furnished  by  Jesus  Christ,  of  all 
dwellers  upon  this  globe.  This  great  end  will  not 
be  reached  when  all  heathen  countries  shall  have 
outwardly  and  nominally  received  Christianity  as  Em 
gland  or  the  United  States  have  received  it.  When 
all  moral  beings  that  live  on  this  globe  shall  have 
voluntarily  and  joyously  accepted  Jesus  Christ  as  a 
Divine  Saviour,  and  shall  have  entirely  submitted 
themselves  to  his  rule  of  life,  the  triumph  of  the 
missionary  enterprise  is  assured. 

There  is  nowhere  furnished  us  a surer  test  of 
Christian  faith,  devotion,  and  enthusiasm  than  just 
here.  It  is  precisely  at  this  point  that  we  find  even 
in  Christian  hearts  the  most  secret  and  dangerous 
obstacle  to  the  cause  of  Christian  missions.  The 
enterprise  seems  so  vast,  inclusive,  and  far-reaching, 


136 


Christian  Manliness . 


involving,  as  it  does,  governments,  nations,  and 
centuries;  the  work  seems  so  intricate,  so  complex, 
so  difficult,  so  slow,  so  stupendous,  that,  in  spite  of 
ourselves,  certain  undefined,  secret,  benumbing 
doubts  are  engendered,  even  in  loyal,  earnest  Chris- 
tian hearts.  It  is  to  be  feared  that,  with  any  thing 
like  an  intelligent  knowledge  of  what  is  really  con- 
templated by  the  great  missionary  enterprise,  few 
of  us  have  ever  found  our  faith  equal  to  a clear, 
steady,  and  ardent  acceptance  of  the  sublime  triumph. 
It  is  my  purpose  to  take  a recent  period  of  human 
history,  and  show,  by  its  wonderful  progress  in  all 
the  various  elements  of  a sound,  enduring  civiliza- 
tion, that  the  end  at  which  we  aim  is  actually  pos- 
sible of  accomplishment  ; yea,  that  these  conspic- 
uous developments  of  history  clearly,  irresistibly 
demonstrate  that  we  are  the  subjects  of  a large 
and  beneficent  law  of  progress  ; that  the  obvious, 
actual,  undisputed  facts  of  the  history  of  the  last 
four  hundred  years  do  furnish  Christian  faith  the 
greatest  possible  encouragement  to  believe  in  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  the  missionary  cause. 

First,  as  to  the  facts.  The  actual  condition  of  the 
so-called  Christian  world  toward  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  or  four  hundred  years  ago,  say  i486, 
or  just  six  years  before  Columbus  discovered  Amer- 
ica, is  scarcely  realizable  by  men  of  the  present  time. 
The  physical,  social,  political,  intellectual,  and  moral 
condition  of  the  continent  of  Europe  at  that  time 
was  indeed  wretched  and  deplorable.  The  popu- 
lation of  the  entire  continent  had  scarcely  doubled 


i37 


Encouragement  to  Missionary  Zeal . 

in  one  thousand  years,  and  the  death-rate  was  one 
in  twenty-five.  Physicians  and  their  remedies  were 
derided  and  depressed,  and  the  vain  and  fantastic 
virtues  of  shrine-cure  were  extravagantly  extolled. 
The  great  cities  were  without  sewers,  without  lamps 
at  night,  without  any  efficient  or  rational  sanitary 
or  police  regulations.  The  war-like  nobles  and  the 
powerful  prelates  lived  in  idleness,  splendor,  volup- 
tuousness, and  luxury.  The  people  were  every-where 
sunk  in  sloth,  ignorance,  filth,  poverty,  and  crime. 
In  Paris  and  London  the  houses  were  of  wood 
daubed  with  clay,  and  thatched  with  straw  and 
reeds.  Carpets  were  an  unknown  luxury.  No  at- 
tempts were  made  at  drainage,  but  the  putrefying 
garbage  and  rubbish  were  simply  thrown  out  of  the 
door  or  window,  very  often  to  the  great  discomfort 
of  the  luckless  passer-by.  In  1430,  Pope  Pius  II. 
visited  the  British  Isles,  and  the  journal  he  kept  on 
his  travels  is  preserved  to  this  day  in  the  library  of 
the  Vatican.  He  describes  the  houses  of  the  peas- 
antry as  constructed  of  stones  put  together  without 
mortar,  the  roofs  were  of  turf,  and  a stiffened  bull’s 
hide  served  for  a door.  The  food  consisted  of  coarse 
vegetable  products,  such  as  raw  peas,  and  often  the 
bark  of  trees.  In  some  places  they  were  unac- 
quainted with  bread.  A man  was  considered  to  be  in 
circumstances  of  great  ease  if  he  could  afford  to  have 
fresh  meat  once  a week  for  his  dinner.  The  social 
bonds  were  every-where  relaxed,  and  a gross  and 
terrible  licentiousness  prevailed  in  all  ranks  of  so- 
ciety. Science  was  necromancy,  chemistry  was  al- 


138  Christian  Manliness . 

chemy,  astronomy  was  astrology,  philosophy  was  a 
fatuous  search  after  the  stone  that  would  turn  every- 
thing into  gold,  and  religion  had  largely  become  a 
most  wretched  and  execrable  superstition.  Genuine 
scientific  study  was  almost  unknown,  while  the 
few  votaries  of  science  to  be  found  were  denounced 
as  heretics,  apostates,  or  infidels.  Intellectual  torpor 
and  stagnation  every-where  existed,  except  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  monasteries  and  universi- 
ties. The  art  of  printing  was  comparatively  crude 
and  imperfect.  There  were  no  railways,  no  tele- 
graphs, no  steam-printing  presses,  no  newspapers, 
no  cheap  books,  NO  SCHOOLS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 
The  bodies  and  labor  and  time  of  men  belonged  to 
the  king,  while  their  intellects  and  consciences  were 
owned  by  the  pope  and  his  ministers.  Kings  reigned 
by  divine  right,  and  the  pope  was  the  vice-gerent  of 
Almighty  God.  To  question  the  sovereignty  of 
either  in  their  respective  realms  was  swift  and  cer- 
tain death.  The  shameless  practice  of  selling  in- 
dulgences was  confessed  to  be  the  most  lucrative 
source  of  revenue  to  the  see  of  St.  Peter.  Tyranny 
and  superstition  in  the  sacred  name  of  religion  had 
combined  their  energies  to  rob  and  oppress  the 
people,  and  the  day  ot  their  enlightenment,  liber- 
ty, and  enfranchisement  seemed  indefinitely  post- 
poned. 

Let  us  seek  to  give  our  brief  summary  of  histor- 
ical facts  artistic  grouping,  to  the  end  that  they 
may  make  a more  striking  and  vivid  impression  on 
the  mind,  and  that  they  may  be  the  longer  remem- 


Encouragement  to  Missionary  Zeal . 139 

bered.  It  is  one  of  those  lovely  evenings  which 
Italy  alone  furnishes;  for,  no  sun  is  brighter,  no 
skies  are  bluer,  no  airs  are  softer  than  those  of 
Italy — the  land  of  classic  memories,  the  land  of  elo- 
quence, music,  poetry,  and  song.  The  windows  of 
the  Vatican  are  open  to  catch  any  freshening  breeze 
that  may  blow  from  the  Mediterranean.  Gathered 
in  a magnificent  drawing-room  are  his  holiness,  the 
blessed  Innocent  VIII.,  and  his  cardinals,  with  a 
royal  visitor  or  two,  perhaps  Henry  VII.  of  England. 
Suddenly,  without  a word  of  warning,  without  a 
single  premonition,  as  Nathan  unbidden  appeared 
before  David,  as  the  lone  and  terrible  Elijah  rose  up 
in  the  way  before  Ahab  in  his  golden  chariot,  a bold 
prophet  in  strange,  startling  attire,  his  eyes  glowing 
with  the  light  divine,  stands  in  their  presence  to 
announce  the  course  of  events  in  the  next  four  cent- 
uries. Startled,  bewildered,  paralyzed  with  a strange 
fear,  they  listen  in  silence.  Nothing  could  have 
seemed  more  unreal  than  the  burden  of  his  proph- 
ecy. He  prophesied  that  before  the  close  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  or  within  the  four  hundred 
years,  the  pope  should  lose  more  than  one  third  of 
his  spiritual  children  ; that  all  truly  intelligent  men 
would  regard  with  ill-concealed  scorn  the  spurious 
miracles  of  the  Dark  Ages;  that  an  Augustinian  monk 
of  Germany,  then  a babe  of  three  years,  would  for- 
ever sunder  theChurch  in  twain ; that  the  pope  should 
be  entirely  divested  of  his  temporal  power  and  be 
restricted  to  the  exercise  of  his  purely  spiritual 

functions ; that  the  spherical  form  of  the  earth  and 
10 


140 


Christian  Manliness . 


its  daily  revolution  round  the  sun  would  be  convinc- 
ingly demonstrated  ; that  the  poor  man  would  travel 
faster  in  his  day  than  noblemen  could  five  hundred 
years  ago  ; that  the  light  in  the  poor  man's  house 
would  be  superior  to  that  of  the  king's  palace;  that 
for  a trifling  sum  he  would  have  better  pictures  of 
his  wife  and  child  than  kings  then  possessed  ; that 
the  right  of  the  many  to  tax  the  entire  community 
in  order  that  the  blessing  of  public  education  might 
every-where  open  the  doors  of  opportunity  and 
hope  to  struggling,  aspiring  men  would  be  generally 
acknowledged  ; that  men  should  travel  on  land  with 
ease,  rapidity,  and  safety  at  the  rate  of  forty  miles 
per  hour;  that  iron  vessels,  propelled  by  steam, 
should  cross  vast  oceans  in  a week  ; that  daily  news- 
papers should  be  circulated  by  the  million,  contain- 
ing news  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe  received 
during  the  previous  twenty-four  hours  by  electric 
telegraph;  that  a plain,  humble,  prayerful,  studious 
man  was  even  then  alive,  and  begging  his  way  from 
one  European  court  to  another,  who,  after  incredi- 
ble toils  and  perils,  should  discover  the  western 
world  ; that  there  should  be  developed  in  this  newly 
discovered  world  a mighty  republic,  surpassing,  in 
its  marvelous  growth,  expansion,  and  prosperity,  all 
the  golden  dreams  of  sages,  poets,  and  reformers  ; 
that  this  republic  should  be  forever  free  from  all 
ecclesiastical  control  and  dictation  ; that  in  1880  its 
population  should  be  over  fifty  millions,  but  five 
millions  of  whom  should  in  any  way  acknowledge 
the  absurd  pretensions  of  the  pope ; that  the  birth 


Encouragement  to  Missionary  ZeaL  14 1 

of  this  republic  should  be  brought  about  by  the  re- 
volt of  English  colonists  against  the  cruel  and  short- 
sighted tyranny  of  George  III.,  a king  of  England, 
and  that,  by  the  dawn  of  the  twentieth  century  of 
this  era,  progress  in  science,  democracy  in  govern- 
ment, liberty  in  politics,  toleration  in  religion,  and 
unfettered  investigation  of  the  truth  should  be  axi- 
omatic truths  among  all  truly  civilized  men  ! What 
a prophet!  And  what  a prophecy!  Hpw  the 
prophecy  would  be  scorned  and  derided  ! And 
what  short  work  they  would  have  made  of  such  a 
prophet ! How  unnatural,  yea,  how  almost  impos- 
sible, would  many  of  these  things  have  seemed  to 
these  men  ! We  live  to  know  that  these  prophecies 
have  been  amply  and  gloriously  fulfilled  ; that  in 
casting  the  horoscope  of  the  future  our  prophet  did 
not  utter  a single  idle  word  or  indulge  in  one  ex- 
travagant promise. 

Let  us  take  a little  closer  and  more  searching 
glance  at  the  astonishing;  the  almost  incredible,  in- 
tellectual and  moral  progress  of  this  period.  Let 
us  see — we  are  back  to  i486.  One  great  intellectual 
and  moral  idea  underlies  the  vast,  the  amazing  im- 
provement or  growth  of  modern  times.  That  idea, 
expressed  in  its  simplest  form,  is,  that  every  man 
belongs  to  himself ; that  every  man  has  the  right  to 
develop  himself,  body , intellect , conscience,  according 
to  his  best  knowledge . Martin  Luther  builded  better 
than  he  knew.  He  was  contending  not  merely 
against  the  shameless  sale  of  indulgences  by  Tetzel, 
but  he  was  doing  brave  battle  for  the  sacredncss  and 


142 


Chi  istian  Manliness . 


inviolability  of  the  individual  conscience.  Leo  X. 
stood  for  spiritual  tyranny;  for  the  right  of  Rome 
to  control  the  minds  and  consciences  of  men.  Mar- 
tin Luther  stood  for  spiritual  liberty;  for  the  right 
of  men  to  culture  their  own  minds  and  worship 
God  as  their  own  consciences  dictated.  It  was  this 
divine  truth  that  gave  power  and  victory  to  the  Ref- 
ormation, and  from  thence  directed  the  whole  course 
and  current  of  modern  history.  It  passed,  first, 
into  the  sphere  of  speculative  political  philosophy, 
and,  thence  working  its  way  into  the  realm  of  prac- 
tical politics,  it  revolutionized  governments.  It 
stirred  the  peasants  to  rise  against  the  barons  of 
Germany.  It  fomented  the  parliamentary  conflicts 
of  England.  It  solemnly  arraigned  a king  at  the 
bar  of  public  justice  as  a criminal  against  the  peo- 
ple. It  pronounced  and  executed  the  sentence  of 
death  against  Charles  I. ; drove  the  bigoted  and  ty- 
rannical James  II.  from  his  throne  and  his  kingdom  ; 
curtailed  the  prerogatives  of  the  sovereign  ; enlarged 
the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  created  all  those 
just  and  beneficent  reforms  which  to-day  constitute 
the  strength  and  pride  and  glory  of  the  British  em- 
pire. It  inaugurated  the  French  Revolution — that 
immense  and  awful  act  of  justice;  overthrew  the 
ancient  aristocratic  regime ; opened  the  eyes  of  the 
people  to  their  just  political  rights,  and  made  it 
possible  for  France,  for  Europe,  yea,  for  the  world 
some  day  to  be  free.  It  crossed  the  wide  Atlantic 
with  the  Pilgrim  fathers  in  the  cabin  of  the  May- 
flower, and  found  a congenial  home  amid  the  wilds 


Encouragement  to  Missionary  Zeal.  143 

of  the  New  World.  It  strengthened  the  hearts  of 
our  forefathers  for  the  revolutionary  struggle.  It 
fired  the  first  shot  at  Lexington,  that  “ alarm  gun 
of  the  world.”  It  fought  the  battles  of  Concord  and 
Bunker  Hill,  inspired  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, and  dictated  the  imperishable  sentiment  that 
“ all  men  are  born  and  created  free  and  equal ; that 
they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  in- 
alienable rights,  and  that  among  these  are  life,  lib- 
erty, and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.” 

The  time  and  our  purpose  forbid  any  tarrying 
for  the  consideration  of  the  general  lessons  here  in- 
volved, much  as  we  would  delight  to  rest  for  that 
purpose.  Many  important  and  searching  questions 
are  decisively  answered  by  this  rapid  historical  sur- 
vey, which  should  bring  cheer  and  hope,  stimula- 
tion and  courage,  to  every  lover  of  his  kind.  What, 
however,  is  the  lesson  to  the  Christian  ? Is  there 
anything  here  to  strengthen  his  faith?  Is  there 
any  thing  here  to  show  that  his  God  is  in  history? 
Let  us  rather  ask,  Is  there  not  here  every  thing  to 
strengthen  his  faith?  to  show  that  his  God  is,  in- 
deed, the  God  of  history  ? Do  not  the  actual  facts 
furnish  ample  ground  for  the  largest  and  brightest 
hopes?  Do  they  not  furnish  sufficient  reason  for 
his  faith  in  the  final  and  complete  victory  of  Chris- 
tian missions?  Do  not  these  facts  show  conclu- 
sively that  we  are  under  the  sway  of  some  vast, 
noble,  divine  law  of  progress?  Do  they  not  give 
the  death-blow  to  pessimism?  Do  they  not  show 
that  “ God  reigns  ? ” What  should  chill  our  zeal, 


144 


Christian  Manliness . 


or  dampen  our  ardor,  or  stagger  our  faith  now? 
Where  are  the  limits  of  this  law  ? Who  shall  fix  its 
boundaries?  Where  now  is  the  impossibility  of  the 
spiritual  conquest  of  the  world  by  Jesus  Christ? 
We  dare  not  attempt  to  limit  or  to  put  a boundary 
to  the  discoveries,  the  inventions,  the  progress,  of 
the  future  in  material  things.  So,  also,  in  the  higher 
realm  of  ideas,  conduct,  thought,  morals,  religion. 
Do  not  these  facts  clearly  show  the  trend?  Who, 
after  this  review,  will  talk  of  chance  or  chaos,  of 
there  being  no  purpose  or  plan  in  human  affairs? 
The  one  great  lesson  of  all  modern  progress  is  the 
encouragement  thus  furnished  to  the  Christian  faith 
that  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the  blessed  God  is  des- 
tined to  win  a universal  triumph ! 

The  great  missionary  enterprise,  what  is  it  ? The 
missionary  “ idea,”  in  itself  considered,  is  simply 
that  of  love  seeking  to  bless  those  who  need  love ; 
it  is  love  going  forth  from  its  pleasant  home,  lordly 
mansion,  or  princely  palace  to  rescue  the  perishing; 
it  is  love  seeking  to  provide  homes  for  the  homeless, 
friends  for  the  friendless,  help  for  the  helpless,  food 
for  the  starving,  guides  for  the  lost,  mercy  for  the 
guilty,  holiness  for  the  sinful,  hope  for  the  despair- 
ing. This  idea  is  not,  indeed,  peculiar  to  “ mod- 
ern” times.  It  is  at  least  as  old  as  Christianity;  for 
Jesus  himself  was  the  first  great  Missionary,  leaving 
the  glory  he  had  with  his  Father  before  the  worlds 
were,  and  coming  here  to  seek  and  save  the  lost. 
Yea,  it  is  older  still.  It  is  as  old  as  the  gracious 
and  kindly  thoughts  of  God  toward  weak  and  sin- 


Encouragement  to  Missionary  Zeal . 145 

ful  men,  for,  in  the  infinite  heart  of  God,  Jesus  was 
a Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world ! 
The  missionary  idea!  Tell  me  when  first  the  heart 
of  God  throbbed  with  love  for  the  sinful  and  the 
guilty,  the  needy,  the  weak,  and  the  suffering;  tell 
me  that,  and  I will  tell  you  how  old  the  missionary 
“ idea  ” is  ! This  is  the  central,  vitalizing  idea  of 
missions — love  seeking  the  perishing,  knowledge 
using  itself  for  the  ignorant,  strength  serving  weak- 
ness, comfort  relieving  distress,  God  seeking  man, 
not  to  condemn  and  smite,  but  to  save  and  bless, 
him  ! This  is  the  great  missionary  enterprise  in  its 
idea,  essence,  spirit.  It  contemplates  the  complete 
moral  conquest,  the  spiritual  recovery,  of  the  human 
race.  This,  and  nothing  short  of  this,  is  its  glorious 
and  sublime  end  ! This  is  our  work,  and  a great, 
glorious,  blessed  work  it  is ! 

Is  there  no  encouragement  to  our  faith  in  this  work 
in  the  growth  of  this  four  hundred  years  ? Does  not 
“ modern  progress”  include  as  one  of  its  most  signifi- 
cant facts  the  birth,  the  growth,  and  the  triumph  of 
Protestant  missions?  In  1792  the  first  Protestant 
missionary  society  was  organized  by  the  Baptists, 
with  a subscription  of  less  than  seventy  dollars.  It 
was  in  1788,  at  Northampton,  that  William  Carey 
first  attempted  to  rouse  his  brethren  to  their  duty 
to  spread  the  Gospel  in  foreign  parts.  In  the  year 
1800,  there  were  eight  feeble  Protestant  missionary 
societies  in  the  whole  world  ! For  many  years  this 
idea  had  to  struggle  against  a mighty  tide  of  igno- 
rance, prejudice,  and  selfishness  in  order  to  find 


146 


Christian  Manliness . 


room  for  itself.  How  wonderful  has  been  its  growth 
since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  ! Why, 
only  last  year  the  Protestants  of  Great  Britain  and 
this  country  alone  gave  over  nine  million  dollars  to 
the  cause.  All  the  principal  heathen  countries  of 
the  world  are  now  penetrated  by  the  missions  of 
Christianity.  At  this  moment,  over  China,  India, 
Japan,  Persia,  Hindustan,  Turkey,  Bulgaria,  Africa, 
Madagascar,  Greenland,  and  the  hundreds  of  Pacific 
isles,  there  are  over  forty  thousand  Christian  laborers 
toiling  diligently  to  represent  unto  guilty  and  sor- 
rowful men  the  glory,  the  beauty,  and  the  healing 
of  Christ’s  love.  In  these  lands  schools,  colleges, 
and  theological  seminaries  have  been  established, 
wherein  Christian  education  is  given  to  more  than 
one  million  youths  of  both  sexes.  Outside  the 
bounds  of  Christendom  there  are  now  established 
at  least  four  thousand  centers  of  Christian  teaching 
and  living ; more  than  three  thousand  Christian 
congregations  have  been  gathered  ; over  seven  hun- 
dred thousand  persons  are  now  members  of  the 
Christian  Church,  while  its  nominal  adherents  reach 
into  the  millions.  In  India  and  Burmah  alone,  there 
are  eight  thousand  missionaries,  native  preachers, 
and  catechists  ; nearly  three  thousand  stations  and 
out-stations  ; more  than  seventy  thousand  commu- 
nicants. The  Baptists  have  made  the  Karens  of 
Burmah  a Christian  people ; the  American  Board 
has  done  the  same  for  the  Sandwich  Islands;  the 
Moravians  for  Greenland  ; the  Wesleyans  for  the 
Fiji  and  Friendly  Isles,  and  the  English  Independ- 


Encouragement  to  Missionary  Zeal.  147 

ents  for  Madagascar.  Consider  those  large  and 
flourishing  Christian  Churches,  born  out  of  the  very 
abysses  of  heathenism,  in  Australia,  British  Amer- 
ica, the  Sandwich  Islands,  Northern  Turkey,  Persia, 
China,  Madagascar,  South  Africa,  Liberia,  Sierra 
Leone,  and  the  islands  of  the  Pacific.  The  largest 
church  in  the  world,  numbering  four  thousand  five 
hundred  members,  is  in  Hilo,  on  the  island  of  Hawaii, 
not  yet  fifty  years  removed  from  the  most  debased 
savagism.  Over  ninety  thousand  Fijians  gather 
regularly  for  Sabbath  worship,  who,  within  thirty 
years,  feasted  on  human  flesh.  In  i860  Madagascar 
had  only  a few  hundred  scattered  and  persecuted 
converts.  Now  the  rulers  of  that  land,  with  more 
than  two  hundred  thousand  of  their  subjects,  are 
adherents  of  Christianity.  During  this  century,  in 
more  than  three  hundred  islands  of  Eastern  and 
Southern  Polynesia,  the  Gospel  has  swept  heathen- 
ism entirely  away.  Ought  not  these  facts  to  quicken 
our  zeal,  inflame  our  love,  confirm  our  faith  ? 

In  the  year  1760,  in  a room  in  Geneva,  Switzer- 
land, Voltaire  boastingly  predicted  that  “ before 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Christian- 
ity will  have  disappeared  from  the  earth.”  William 
Carey  was  not  born  until  one  year  later,  but  the 
missionary  spirit  which  was  born  of  his  holy  zeal 
has  filled  the  century  with  the  glorious  record  of  its 
triumphs!  Since  the  beginning  of  this  century 
Protestantism  alone  has  established  hundreds  of 
foreign  mission  stations,  it  has  gathered  an  army  of 
lay  helpers  numbering  more  than  35,000,  it  counts 


148 


Christian  Manliness. 


its  communicants  by  the  hundred  thousand,  and 
its  nominal  adherents  by  the  million  ! In  less  than 
eighty  years  over  160,000,000  copies,  in  whole  or 
in  part,  of  the  word  of  God  have  been  scattered 
abroad — a number  “ thirty  times  as  great  as  existed 
in  all  the  previous  thirty-three  centuries  since  the 
law  was  given  on  Mount  Sinai.”  The  very  room 
in  which  Voltaire  uttered  his  vain  prophecy  is  now 
a Bible  depository,  while  the  glorious  Gospel  of 
Christ,  gathering  to  itself  all  increments  of  power, 
strong  in  the  irresistible  might  of  God,  goes  forth 
conquering  and  to  conquer,  until  the  whole  earth 
shall  rejoice  in  his  salvation  ! 

“ Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night; 

Higher  yet  that  star  ascends. 

Traveler,  blessedness  and  light, 

Peace  and  truth,  its  course  portends  ! 

Watchman,  will  its  beams  alone 
Gild  the  spot  that  gave  them  birth  ! 

Traveler,  ages  are  its  own, 

See,  it  bursts  o’er  all  the  earth  ! ” 


The  Great  King  in  Disguise. 


149 


THE  GREAT  KING  IN  DISGUISE. 


Then  came  Jesus  forth,  wearing  the  crown  of  thorns,  and  the 
purple  robe.  And  Pilate  saith  unto  them,  Behold  the  man  ! — 
John  xix,  5. 

In  the  days  of  the  Augustan  empire,  it  was  the 
custom  of  the  Roman  governors  of  Judea  annually 
to  release  a prisoner  to  the  people  at  the  time  of 
the  Passover  feast.  Pontius  Pilate  sought  to  shield 
himself  behind  this  precedent  in  his  temporizing 
and  cowardly  effort  to  escape  from  a plain  duty. 
In  his  fatal  and  guilty  perplexity,  he  invited  the 
people  to  ask  him  to  release  unto  them  the  prisoner 
at  his  judgment  seat,  Jesus,  the  King  of  the  Jews. 
Pilate  found,  as  all  men  of  like  character  find  sooner 
or  later  to  their  cost,  that,  when  face  to  face  with  a 
clear  and  undisputed  duty,  hesitation,  indirection, 
evasive  and  circuitous  courses  lead  to  deeper  en- 
tanglements and  greater  sin,  for  at  once  the  crowd, 
instigated  by  the  eager  and  wily  priests  and  scribes, 
cried,  saying,  “ Not  this  man,  but  Barabbas.  Now 
Barabbas  was  a robber.” 

Then  it  was  that  the  supreme  indignity  and  cru- 
elty of  a Roman  scourging  was  inflicted  on  Jesus. 
As  their  manner  was,  he  was  stripped  to  the  waist, 
and  tied  to  a pillar  or  post  in  a stooping  posture, 
and  was  beaten  by  the  pitiless  soldiers  with  a cord 
of  knotted  rope  or  of  plated  leather  thongs,  armed 


150 


Christian  Manliness. 


at  the  end  with  sharp  pieces  of  bone  or  small  jagged 
drops  of  lead.  It  not  unfrequently  happened  that 
the  unfortunate  victim  perished  while  undergo- 
ing this  horrible  torture,  or  sank  insensible  before 
his  tormentors,  a scarcely  recognizable  mass  of 
bruised,  bleeding,  quivering  flesh.  However  much 
our  reverence  and  love  would  incline  us  to  hope  the 
contrary,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  full  quota  of 
stripes  was  laid  upon  the  body  of  Jesus,  for  Jewish 
prisoners  were  specially  distasteful  to  Roman  sol- 
diers, and  his  refusal  to  make  any  answer  to  the 
governor  concerning  the  accusations  brought  against 
him  would  tend  still  further  to  exasperate  the  brutal 
guards.  The  cruel  act  completed,  the  rough,  un- 
feeling legionaries  led  the  stooping,  bleeding  Victim 
into  the  great  hall  of  the  governor’s  house,  and,  re- 
membering that  he  had  been  called  a king,  they 
threw  over  him  a faded  soldier’s  cloak,  sometimes  of 
scarlet,  sometimes  of  purple,  as  a rude  burlesque  of 
the  rich  and  splendid  purple  one  worn  by  the  Roman 
emperors.  With  some  twigs  of  the  thorny  Nubk 
bush,  growing  hard  by,  they  improvised  a mock 
laurel-wreath  like  that  worn  on  public  occasions  by 
the  Caesars,  and  pressed  down  its  close,  sharp  thorns 
on  his  temples,  the  blood  meanwhile  trickling  down 
his  face!  They  forced  into  his  trembling  hand  a 
long  reed,  in  mockery  of  the  scepters  held  by  kings, 
and  then  they  gave  full  vent  to  their  grim  and  awful 
humor.  They  kneeled  before  him  in  derision,  say- 
ing, “ Hail,  King  of  the  Jews.”  Then  they  took  the 
reed  from  his  hand  and  smote  him  on  the  face  and 


The  Great  King  in  Disguise . 1 5 1 

head,  and  as  well  with  the  palms  of  their  hands,  while 
some,  indulging  their  coarse  contempt  to  the  full,  spit 
upon  him.  Thus  they  mocked  and  scorned  and  jeered 
and  derided  him,  until  even  their  violence  and  brutal- 
ity finally  wore  itself  out,  and  during  it  all  the  di- 
vine Sufferer  murmured  not,  nor  spake  a single  word. 
The  depth  and  patience  and  majesty  of  his  solitary 
anguish  seems  to  have  touched  the  stern  heart  of 
Pilate,  for,  seeing  him  thus,  he  determined  to  make 
one  more  effort  to  save  his  life.  He  went  forth 
again  to  the  fierce,  angry,  vengeful  crowd,  ordering 
Jesus  at  the  same  time  to  be  brought  forth  with 
him,  wearing  the  scarlet  cloak,  crowned  with  thorns, 
covered  with  the  vile  proofs  of  contempt  and  vio- 
lence, and  tottering  with  extreme  pain  and  weak- 
ness. “ Behold,  I bring  him  before  you  once  more. 
The  scourging  has  not  extorted  a single  word  of 
confession  from  him.  I find  no  fault  in  him  at  all.’* 
And  then,  as  though  he  would  appeal  to  their  com- 
passion, he  said,  “ Behold  the  Man  ? ” And  what  did 
they  behold  ? A figure  bent  by  the  scourging,  in- 
vested with  the  garments  and  insignia  of  mock  roy- 
alty, a pale,  worn,  and  bleeding  face — the  thorn- 
crowned  Man  of  sorrows  ! And  what  did  the  angels 
behold  ? What  did  they  behold  who  dwell  in  the 
overhanging  spiritual  realm,  their  eyes  so  purged 
from  earthly  grossness  as  that  they  may  see  the  course 
and  issues  of  the  eternal  realities?  They  saw  the  * 
Son  of  the  Highest,  by  the  word  of  whose  power  the 
worlds  are  upheld,  and  in  virtue  of  whom  all  things 
consist,  meekly  enduring  all  this  scorn  and  con- 


152 


Christian  Manliness . 


tumely  and  mockery  and  insult,  giving  the  utter- 
most proof  of  his  holy  and  tender  love  for  men,  the 
light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  shining 
in  his  face,  and  the  vast  dominion  of  the  unending 
ages  stretching  away  in  resplendent  glory  before 
him  ! 

But  the  pathetic  spectacle  moved  not  to  mercy 
or  pity  his  fierce  and  unrelenting  persecutors.  They 
were  hounding  him  to  the  death.  Their  thirst  was 
for  blood.  They  were  priests,  and  priestly  cruelty, 
like  the  grave,  is  cold,  hard,  pitiless,  insatiable.  The 
greedy  blood-hunger  of  a fanatical  and  persecuting 
priesthood,  no  more  than  the  ravenous  grave,  has 
ever  yet,  in  any  time  or  land,  said,  “ Enough, 
enough  ! ” Religious  hate  is  a passion  easily  aroused, 
but  when  once  it  has  gained  the  complete  control 
of  a man,  a sect,  or  a party  it  can  be  effectually  laid 
only  by  the  strong,  resistless  hand  of  Almighty  God. 
“ When  the  chief  priests  therefore  and  the  officers 
saw  him,  they  cried  out,  saying,  Crucify  him,  crucify 
him.” 

i.  As  Pilate  to  these  Jews,  so  God  perpetually, 
by  various  voices,  is  saying  to  every  man  born  in  a 
Christian  land,  trained  amid  Christian  influences, 
“ Behold  the  Man  ! ” Whether  we  will  or  no,  we 
must  hear  that  voice,  we  must  look  at  the  great 
King  in  disguise.  In  childhood,  in  youth,  in  vigor- 
ous manhood,  in  halting  age,  in  every  period  and 
circumstance  of  life,  it  speaks  to  our  hearts.  We 
cannot  drown  that  Voice,  we  cannot  hide  that 
Face,  from  our  eyes.  Hear  we  must,  look  we 


The  Great  King  in  Disguise . 153 

must,  until  the  last  choice  is  made  by  which  we 
elect  our  spiritual,  eternal  destiny.  We  may 
fill  our  eyes  with  other  visions,  the  strife  and 
clamor  and  din  of  the  world  may  seal  our 
ears  against  the  celestial  voices,  but  there  will  be 
times,  occasions,  experiences  when  this  voice  will 
strangely  hush  all  other  sounds,  and  we  will  hear 
distinctly  and  solemnly  the  penetrating  words,  “ Be- 
hold the  Man  ! ” We  may  not  choose  to  look  upon 
this  worn  and  bleeding  face,  we  may  even  strive  to 
put  far  from  us  the  visage  that  was  marred  more 
than  the  sons  of  men,  but  there  will  be  hours  when 
all  visions  of  splendor  and  beauty  and  pleasure  and 
power  and  ambition  and  wealth  will  be  swept  clean 
away,  and  between  our  souls  and  eternity  nothing 
will  remain  but  the  Man  of  sorrows  appealing  for 
our  love  and  obedience. 

2.  As  with  these  Jews,  so  with  us,  we  must  ac- 
cept him  as  our  King,  or  reject  him,  and  send  him 
to  the  cross.  One  of  the  accusations  brought  against 
him  was,  “ He  makes  himself  a King.”  Yes,  he  is 
a King.  To  the  Jews  a false  king;  to  the  Romans 
a mock  king,  but  to  us  he  is,  and  must  forever  re- 
main, a real  King.  As  we  behold  him,  shall  we  ac- 
cept him?  A King  we  must  have,  will  have,  DO 
have.  The  question  is  not,  Shall  we  have  a King? 
but,  Who  shall  be  our  King?  Known  by  various 
names  are  the  kings  that  rule  men,  but  every  man, 
first  and  last,  owns  a king.  It  may  be  pleasure,  or 
ambition,  or  wealth,  or  power,  but  something  we  do 
have.  Is  he  not  a worthy  King?  Is  he  not  our 


154 


Christian  Manliness . 


only  worthy  King?  He  stood  there  a King,  the 
King  of  his  own  spirit  and  life  and  kingdom.  Con- 
trast him  with  Pilate  and  the  Jews.  They  were 
slaves,  hirelings,  cowards.  Was  he  not  a real  King? 

The  postponement  of  his  claims  is  equivalent  to 
a temporary  rejection  of  them.  What  is  it  but  the 
spirit  and  purpose  on  our  part  to  serve  one  or  the 
other  of  these  false  kings  for  a season,  and  at  our 
own  leisure  to  turn  and  embrace  the  service  of  the 
true  King? 

Christ  is  sent  to  the  cross  every  time  men  reject 
him  when  he  is  truly  and  persuasively  presented  to 
them.  Who  are  his  crucifiers?  Who  are  they  who 
send  him  to  the  cross?  They  who  are  satisfied  to 
live  the  life  of  grossness,  baseness,  sordidness,  self- 
ishness, and  the  malign  passions  of  the  mind,  and 
to  refuse  the  life  of  obedience,  penitence,  faith,  and 
love. 

3.  There  is  that  in  the  nature  and  life  and  offices 
of  this  thorn-crowned  King  which  should  commend 
him  to  our  deepest  reverence  and  strongest  faith, 
our  holiest  love,  and  our  unfaltering  obedience. 
“ Behold  the  Man!”  What  does  Pilate  say?  “ I 
find  no  fault  in  him ! ” Who  has  found  any  fault 
in  him  ? Who  convinceth  him  of  sin?  He  is  holy, 
harmless,  undefiled,  separate  from  sinners.  He  is 
absolutely  without  spot  or  blemish.  Shall  we  not 
be  drawn  by  this  spectacle  of  flawless,  spotless,  radi- 
ant purity?  Is  it  so  common  that  we  can  afford 
to  despise  him? 

“ Behold  the  Man  ! ” The  law  of  duty  was  the 


i55 


The  Great  King  in  Disguise . 

law  of  his  life.  “ I came  not  to  do  my  own  will,  but 
the  will  of  him  that  sent  me.”  “ My  meat  is  to 
do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me.”  “ I must  work  the 
works  of  him  that  sent  me,  while  it  is  day  : the  night 
cometh,  when  no  man  can  work.”  “ It  is  finished.” 
Ought  not  this  to  be  the  law  of  every  life  ? Has  life 
any  significance,  any  force,  any  beauty,  without  it? 
Is  not  this  complete  surrender  to  duty  rare  and 
glorious  ? 

“ Behold  the  Man!”  He  bore  quiet,  faithful, 
unflinching  testimony  to  the  truth.  “To  this  end 
was  I born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I into  the  world, 
that  I should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.”  Consider 
the  kind  of  truth  to  which  he  bore  witness.  Not 
local,  temporary,  institutional  truth,  but  spiritual, 
necessary,  universal,  eternal  truth.  And  is  not  this 
a grand  office,  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth  ? The 
admiration  we  feel  for  the  truth-speaker  in  any 
sphere  is  spontaneous  and  sincere.  His  witness 
may  be  a very  humble  one,  it  may  be  for  a merely 
local,  typical,  temporary  truth,  but  we  weave  a chap- 
let of  honor  for  him  who  sees  it  and  utters  it.  How 
much  more  for  him  who  was  and  is  THE  Truth  ! 

“ Behold  the  Man  ! ” How  meekly  and  calmly  and 
sublimely  does  he  hold  his  vast  and  mighty  powers 
in  reserve?  He  is  thorn-crowned.  His  hands  are 
weak  and  pulseless,  and  the  long  reed  trembles  as 
he  barely  supports  it.  His  pierced  flesh  quivers 
with  agony,  the  blood  drops  from  his  brows.  His 
brain  throbs  with  pain,  his  heart  is  breaking  with 

the  burden  of  its  great,  mysterious  sorrow.  And 
11 


156  Christian  Manliness . 

why  is  he  so  defenseless?  Is  it  because  he  is  weaker 
than  his  enemies?  A word  from  him,  and  as  light- 
ning— smiting,  scorching — leaps  from  the  bosom  of 
the  black  cloud  the  secret  fires  would  shrivel  them 
up  before  his  face.  A single  wave  of  his  hand,  and 
the  earth  would  open  and  swallow  them  up.  Those 
mute  lips,  let  them  but  move  in  prayer  to  his  Father, 
and  instantly  twelve  legions  of  armed  angels  would 
flame  about  him.  All  power  is  his,  in  heaven  and 
on  earth,  but  he  will  use  it  only  for  lofty  and  glo- 
rious spiritual  ends.  It  is  a sacred  and  charmed  de- 
posit, and  he  will  never  use  it  for  himself,  for  his 
own  protection  and  sustenance,  or  for  the  purposes 
of  vainglory,  as  tempted  to  do  in  the  wilderness. 
That  power  is  for  others:  to  relieve  pain  and  suf- 
fering, to  feed,  to  clothe,  to  solace,  to  heal — and  to 
bless,  to  forgive  and  sanctify  and  beautify  the  pen- 
itent and  aspiring  soul.  He  suffers,  but  not  in  his 
own  right,  not  on  his  own  account,  not  for  himself, 
but  for  us;  the  just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might 
bring  us  to  God. 

Behold  him  as  your  Guide.  Do  you  not  need  a 
guide?  Are  you  never  perplexed  ? Have  you  no 
experience  of  conflict  of  duties?  Behold  him  as 
your  Friend,  faithful,  delicate,  sympathizing,  all- 
powerful.  Do  you  not  yearn  for  such  a friend?  Is 
not  your  heart  hungry  for  such  wealth  and  delicacy 
and  fidelity  of  love  as  he  only  can  give?  Behold 
him  as  your  present,  gracious,  patient,  complete 
Saviour. 

4.  The  Jews  scornfully,  contemptuously  rejected 


i57 


The  Great  King  in  Disguise . 

him,  and  their  ruin  was  swift,  complete,  inevitable ; 
so  with  every  soul  that  willfully  puts  him  away.  No 
life  is  in  danger  with  Christ  ; every  life  is  in  peril 
without  him.  The  clear,  open,  complete  disclosure 
of  Christ  to  a human  soul  is  to  that  soul  the  begin- 
ning of  spiritual  life  or  death,  as  Christliness  is 
every-where  heaven,  and  selfishness  is  every-where 
hell. 

Behold,  I bring  him  forth  before  you.  The  sol- 
diers have  worked  their  will  upon  him.  “ Behold 
the  Man  ! ” What  will  you  do  with  him  ? Will  you 
mock  him  ? Will  you  deride  him  ? Will  you  kneel 
in  mock  solemnity,  saying,  “ Hail,  King  of  the  J ews  ?” 
Will  you  smite  him  ? Will  you  cry,  “Crucify  him  ? ” 
This  was  the  third  time  Pilate  brought  him  before 
these  Jews.  He  has  been  in  your  presence  before. 
You  have  said,  “ He  is  not  my  King.”  Will  you  say 
it  again?  You  have  smitten  him  in  the  face  with 
your  refusals.  Will  you  smite  him  again  ? You  have 
said,  “ Let  him  go  to  the  cross,  I will  go  my  way.” 
Will  you  say  it  again  ? 

“ Behold  the  Man  !”  Mock  him  no  more.  Smite 
him  no  more.  Give  him  to  the  crucifiers  no  more. 
Cry  out  with  Thomas,  “ My  Lord  and  my  God!” 
Accept  him  as  your  Brother,  Saviour,  King,  and  he 
will  bless  and  honor  and  exalt  you  for  evermore ! 


153 


Christian  Manliness. 


THE  PROPHETIC  VISION  OF  GOD. 

Philip  saith  unto  him,  Lord,  show  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth 
us.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Have  I been  so  long  time  with  you,  and 
yet  hast  thou  not  known  me,  Philip  ? He  that  hath  seen  me  hath 
seen  the  Father;  and  how  sayest  thou  then,  Show  us  the  Father? — 
John  xiv,  8-9. 

Two  things  are  necessary  in  order  to  the  produc- 
tion of  a result  in  a moral  agent.  First,  a perceiv- 
ing, recipient,  and  responsive  faculty  ; and,  second, 
a truth  adapted  to  awaken,  arouse,  gratify,  or  feed 
that  faculty.  Two  things  are  necessary  in  order  to 
vision  : light  and  the  eye.  Two  things  are  necessary 
in  order  to  respiration:  air  and  lungs.  Two  things 
are  necessary  in  order  to  the  production  of  hearing  : 
an  ear  and  sound.  Whenever  there  is  light  and  an 
eye  there  must  be  vision  ; whenever  there  is  air  and 
lungs  there  must  be  respiration.  It  is  not  a ques- 
tion of  volition  at  all.  Given  an  open  eye  and  light, 
and  the  will  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter. 
Vision  follows  without  any  determination  on  the 
part  of  the  will.  It  does  not  require  an  effort  of 
volition  in  order  to  hear  when  there  is  sound 
and  a ear  ; it  follows  without  volition.  So  there  are 
sensibilities,  emotions,  capacities  in  man  which  are 
excited  without  any  reference  to  the  will,  and  there 
are  some  faculties,  some  susceptibilities  in  the  hu- 
man spirit  whose  activity  cannot  in  any  wise  be  de- 


159 


The  Prophetic  Vision  of  God . 

termined  by  the  will.  A man  cannot  make  himself 
glad  when  he  is  sad  simply  by  resolving  to  be  glad. 
You  cannot  by  an  effort  of  the  will  compel  yourself 
to  love  that  which  is  inherently  unlovely,  or  to  rec- 
ognize as  superior  that  which  is  confessedly  inferior. 
Yonder  on  the  public  square  is  a veiled  statue;  the 
hour  has  arrived  for  its  public  display;  at  a given 
signal  the  shroud  falls  away.  It  is  hideous!  It  is 
misshapen  ! It  is  distorted  ! It  is  any  thing  but  a 
sight  of  beauty  ! Now,  no  amount  of  argument  on 
the  part  of  the  sculptor,  however  gifted  he  may  be, 
can  prove  to  you  that  an  ugly  and  hideous  statue  is 
a thing  of  grace  and  proportion,  and  your  will  can- 
not make  that  appear  beautiful  which  is  intrinsically 
ugly.  We  cannot  believe  that  love  is  hate.  We 
may  indeed  say  that  it  is,  with  our  lips.  But  I am 
not  talking  about  lips;  I am  talking  about  the  actual 
feeling,  the  real  response  of  one's  soul.  We  can- 
not make  love  appear  to  the  mind  as  an  identical 
quality  with  hate.  We  cannot  make  truth  and  a 
lie  the  same  thing  to  our  spirits.  We  cannot  make 
that  which  is  repulsive  seem  fair  and  lovely. 

These  are  the  underlying  principles,  the  basal 
truths,  of  all  true,  enduring  spiritual  philosophy,  and 
any  religion  that  aspires  to  universal  sway  and  per- 
manent authority  among  men  must  have  respect  to 
these  principles.  No  religion  can  ever  come  to  per- 
manent authority,  no  religion  can  ever  come  to  uni- 
versal sway,  that  does  not  root  itself  in,  and  propa- 
gate itself  by,  a devout  and  honest  and  straightfor- 
ward recognition  of  these  truths. 


160  Christian  Manliness . 

“ Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  might,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  strength.’'  It  is  taken  for  granted 
in  this  commandment  that  God  is  worthy  of  such  a 
love.  The  underlying  assumption  is  that  he  is  a 
Being  fitted  to  call  forth  that  kind  of  love  ; and  if 
he  is  not,  the  mere  command  to  love  him  does  not 
make  it  right.  It  is  not  right  to  love  God  just  be- 
cause we  are  commanded  to  love  him.  It  is  not 
right  to  love  any  superior  being  just  because  we  are 
ordered  to  do  so.  We  must  not,  yea,  we  cannot, 
really  love  any  being,  stronger  than  ourselves,  sim- 
ply by  virtue  of  a command.  If  that  being  is  un- 
just, if  that  being  is  cruel,  if  that  being  is  unright- 
eous, it  may  be  our  duty  not  to  love  him  ; and  the 
righteousness  of  loving  God  does  not  consist  in 
merely  obeying  an  outward  command  to  love  him. 
It  consists  in  our  capacity  to  recognize  the  lovable 
qualities  in  him.  Therefore  it  is  the  supreme  duty 
of  the  Christian  religion,  inasmuch  as  it  commands 
men  on  the  pain  and  penalty  of  eternal  death  to 
love  God — it  is,  I say,  the  duty  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion to  see  to  it  that  it  shall  present  God  as  wor- 
thy of  such  love.  I will  not  worship  a demon  just 
because  at  some  time  or  other  some  religious  fanatic 
calls  him  God.  I will  not  do  violence  to  my  moral 
nature  just  because  some  ignorant  zealot  tells  me 
that  I must  fall  down  and  worship  any  being  who  is 
stronger  than  I am.  No  man  can  love  a devil  just 
because  some  superstitious  recluse  calls  him  God. 
There  may  be  times,  there  have  been  times,  in  the 


The  Prophetic  Vision  of  God . 1 6 1 

religious  history  of  the  world  when  it  was  the  instant 
duty  of  all  good  and  right-minded  men  not  to  love  the 
Being  that  was  put  forth  as  God.  It  is,  and  I repeat 
it  with  reverence,  the  first  duty  of  Christianity,  com- 
manding men  as  it  does  to  yield  to  the  divine  Being 
supreme  and  passionate  affection — an  affection  that 
absorbs  the  whole  nature — it  is  the  duty  of  this  re- 
ligion to  see  to  it  that  the  Supreme  Being  shall  be 
presented  to  men  as  worthy  of  their  love. 

Have  you  ever  studied  the  contents  of  the  pro- 
phetic vision  of  God?  Have  you  ever  taken  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures  and  carefully  inquired 
into  the  kind  of  a God  these  old  Hebrew  seers  fore- 
told ? It  is  remarkable  how  they  not  only  predicted 
the  coming  of  a great  Person,  the  coming  of  a strange 
and  wonderful  Being,  but  how  they  almost  always 
so  phrased  their  predictions  as  to  bring  prominently 
to  the  fore  the  truth  that  God,  as  he  shall  be  dis- 
closed to  the  world  through  Israel,  should  be  pre- 
sented as  an  attractive,  winning,  drawing,  magnetic 
Being. 

Let  me  read  you  some  passages  of  Scripture  in 
order  to  justify  this  statement.  The  pith  and  mar- 
row, the  inner  heart  and  spirit,  of  all  these  passages 
is  that  there  should  come  from  the  peculiar  and 
chosen  people  such  a disclosure  of  the  divine  nature 
as  would  draw  men  to  it  : “ The  scepter  shall  not 
depart  from  Judah,  nor  a lawgiver  from  between  his 
feet,  until  Shiloh  come  ; and  unto  him  shall  the  gath- 
ering of  the  people  be.”  There  is  not  a hint  here 
of  the  use  of  force  to  bring  the  people  to  Shiloh. 


1 62  Christ ian  Manliness. 

There  is  not  the  faintest  suggestion  of  the  employ- 
ment of  coercion.  So  far  from  there  being  any  thing 
in  Shiloh  to  repel  people,  the  dying  Jacob  predicted 
that  the  people  should  gather  about  him  as  steel 
filings  about  a magnet.  “ Behold,  thou  shalt  call  a 
nation  that  thou  knowest  not,  and  nations  that  knew 
not  thee  shall  run  unto  thee,  because  of  the  Lord 
thy  God,  and  for  the  Holy  One  of  Israel ; for  he 
hath  glorified  thee.”  Through,  by  means  of,  the 
Jewish  nation  a new  unfolding  of  the  divine  nature 
is  be  expected,  and  such  shall  be  its  beauty  that 
other  nations,  hearing  of  it,  should  run  unto  Israel 
because  of  the  Lord  their  God.  “ And  it  shall  come 
to  pass  in  the  last  days,  that  the  mountain  of  the 
Lord’s  house  shall  be  established  in  the  top  of  the 
mountains,  and  shall  be  exalted  above  the  hills ; and 
all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it.  And  many  people 
shall  go  and  say,  Come  ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to  the 
mountain  of  the  Lord,  to  the  house  of  the  God  of 
Jacob  ; and  he  will  teach  us  of  his  ways,  and  we  will 
walk  in  his  paths.”  Is  not  that  in  outline  a descrip- 
tion of  a God  who  would  draw  people  to  him  ? “And 
in  that  day  there  shall  be  a root  of  Jesse,  which  shall 
stand  for  an  ensign  of  the  people  ; to  it  shall  the 
Gentiles  seek.”  If  there  are  any  soldiers  here,  they 
know  that  wherever  the  ensign  is  on  the  field  of 
battle,  that  is  where  they  are  to  seek,  and  there  is  to 
be  such  a disclosure  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  that  what 
the  colors  are  to  soldiers  on  the  field  of  battle,  God, 
as  seen  in  Christ,  is  to  be  to  the  nations.  “And  the 
inhabitants  of  one  city  shall  go  to  another,  saying, 


The  Prophetic  Vision  of  God . 163 

Let  us  go  speedily  to  pray  before  the  Lord,  and  to 
seek  the  Lord  of  hosts:  I will  go  also.  Yea,  many 
people  and  strong  nations  shall  come  to  seek  the 
Lord  of  hosts  in  Jerusalem,  and  to  pray  before  the 
Lord.” 

My  object  in  reading  these  passages  from  the  Old 
Testament  has  been  to  show  that  the  final  disclos- 
ure of  God,  according  to  the  contents  of  the  Hebrew 
prophecy,  was  to  be  the  disclosure  of  a Being  of  ir- 
resistible drawing  power,  of  irresistible  spiritual  mag- 
netism, and  to  show  that,  my  language  was  not  too 
strong  when  I said  that,  if  men  are  to  love  God  with 
all  their  hearts,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  teachers  of  Chris- 
tianity to  see  that  they  shall  present  to  men  a God 
worthy  of  love.  Clearly  it  was  the  expectation  of 
the  Hebrew  prophets  that  such  a God  should  be 
manifested  to  men  by  the  coming  of  their  Messiah. 

Have  the  teachers  of  Christianity  always  done  it? 
Bishop  Foster,  speaking  elsewhere,  protected  by 
years  and  scholarship  and  eminent  ability,  could  say 
that  Christianity  has  suffered  more  from  the  errors 
of  its  friends  than  the  malice  of  its  foes.  If  I may 
not  make  this  statement  as  an  original  one,  I may 
at  least  quote  it  from  the  eminent  and  godly  Bishop, 
and  strongly  emphasize  its  truth.  For  it  is  true 
that  Christianity  has  suffered  more  from  the  errors 
of  its  friends  than  the  malice  of  its  foes.  Was  that 
God  who  was  declared  to  men  from  the  eighth  to 
the  sixteenth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  a God 
calculated  to  win  and  draw  people?  Was  he  cal- 
culated to  attract  the  admiration,  win  the  homage, 


164 


Christian  Manliness . 


and  call  forth  the  affections  of  strong  and  noble  nat- 
ures? That  God  who  was  represented  as  delighting 
in  nothing  so  much  as  the  eternal  burning  of  here- 
tics; that  God  who  had  committed  the  distribution 
of  his  mercies  into  the  hands  of  a few  Italian  priests, 
with  their  head-quarters  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber; 
that  God  who  permitted  these  priests  freely  to  dis- 
pense and  dispose  of  his  mercy,  whose  sins  they  re- 
mitted being  remitted,  whose  sins  they  refused  to 
forgive  being  still  binding;  that  God  who  damned 
men  for  opinions,  not  for  conduct ; that  God  who 
was  declared  to  be  pleased  with  the  sight  of  human 
beings  in  exquisite  pain — was  that  God  worthy  of 
the  supreme  love  of  noble  hearts?  No!  a thou- 
sand times,  No!  He  was  worthy  of  universal 
execration. 

Two  or  three  years  ago  I read,  in  a monthly  mag- 
azine sent  to  a great  many  preachers  in  this  country, 
the  following  words  from  an  eminent  divine,  an  emi- 
nent Protestant  divine,  a clergyman  of  one  of  the 
most  influential  and  highly  cultured  religious  bodies 
in  the  United  States  : “ Tone  up  the  pew  to  the  cor- 
dial acceptance  of  every  article  of  our  Confession. 
The  sound  conservatism  of  the  New  England  heart, 
and  the  New  England  head,  and  the  old  New  En- 
gland piety  will,  I trust,  erelong,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  bring  back  the  theology  of  New  England  to 
the  platform  of  Jonathan  Edwards  and  the  fathers.’' 
Well,  I thought  I would  see  about  this  matter  a little, 
and  find  out  just  what  kind  of  a Confession  it  was 
that  the  pew  was  to  be  toned  up  to  in  every  article. 


The  Prophetic  Vision  of  God.  165 

I found  it.  Here  is  a single  specimen  of  its  gracious 
utterance : “ By  the  decree  of  God,  for  the  manifes- 
tation of  his  glory,  some  men  and  angels  are  predes- 
tined unto  everlasting  life,  and  others  are  fore-or- 
dained to  everlasting  death.  These  angels  and  men, 
thus  predestined  and  fore-ordained,  are  particularly 
and  unchangeably  designed,  and  their  number  is  so 
certain  and  definite  that  it  cannot  be  either  increased 
or  diminished.  The  rest  of  mankind  God  was  pleased, 
according  to  the  unsearchable  counsel  of  his  own 
self,  whereby  he  extendeth  or  withholdeth  mercy  as 
he  pleaseth,  for  the  glory  of  his  sovereign  power 
over  his  creatures,  to  pass  by,  and  to  ordain  them  to 
dishonor  and  wrath  for  their  sin,  to  the  praise  of  his 
glorious  justice.”  Do  you  wonder  that  doubters  and 
infidels  are  as  plentiful  in  New  England  as  they  are 
said  to  be?  I wonder  that  they  are  not  all  infidels, 
in  the  presence  of  such  teaching  concerning  God. 
Am  I to  be  commanded  to  love  the  God  who,  sitting 
in  the  solitude  and  calmness  of  eternity,  ere  yet  any 
world  had  been  created,  should  deliberately  precon- 
ceive the  whole  plan  of  this  creation,  who  foresaw  all 
that  would  happen,  and  deliberately  filled  the  earth 
with  beings  who  are  ordained  to  sin  that  they  might 
suffer,  and  then  in  wrath  appointed  to  eternal  suffer- 
ing ? Men  may  through  fear  say  with  their  lips  that 
they  love  such  a God,  but  they  no  more  love  him  than 
they  love  a devil.  Nor  is  this  all.  “ The  sound  con- 
servatism of  the  New  England  heart,  and  the  New 
England  head,  and  the  old  New  England  piety  will, 
I trust,  erelong,  by  the  grace  of  God,  bring  back  the 


Christian  Manliness . 


1 66 

theology  of  New  England  to  the  platform  of  Jona- 
than Edwards  and  the  fathers.”  Several  years  ago, 
I invested  in  Jonathan  Edwards’s  works.  He  was 
a very  great  and  holy  and  godly  man,  but  he  was 
not  pope,  thank  God!  He  preached  a great  many 
sermons,  and  one  of  the  most  famous  of  them  is  en- 
titled, “Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry  God.” 
Let  me  read  to  you  a specimen  of  the  old-fashioned 
theology  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  to  which  we  are  soon 
to  return.  In  this  sermon  on  “ Sinners  in  the  Hands 
of  an  Angry  God,”  preached  to  those  whom  he  styles 
“the  unregenerate,”  he  says:  “The  God  that  holds 
you  over  the  pit  of  hell,  much  as  one  holds  a spider, 
or  some  loathsome  insect,  over  the  fire,  abhors  you, 
and  is  dreadfully  provoked  ; his  wrath  toward  you 
burns  like  fire  ; he  looks  upon  you  as  worthy  of 
nothing  else,  but  to  be  cast  into  the  fire;  he  is  of 
purer  eyes  than  to  bear  to  have  you  in  his  sight ; 
you  are  ten  thousand  times  so  abominable  in  his 
sight  as  the  most  hateful  and  venomous  serpent  is 
in  ours.”  “ Consider  this,  you  that  are  here  present, 
that  yet  remain  in  an  unregenerate  state.  That  God 
will  execute  the  fierceness  of  his  anger  implies  that 
he  will  inflict  wrath  without  any  pity/’  Now  if,  in 
a fit  of  anger,  I should  correct  my  child  without  any 
pity , and  it  should  become  generally  known,  this 
whole  Church  would  speedily  ask  for  a new  pastor. 
And  yet  we  are  asked  to  bow  down  and  worship  a 
God  who  will  deliberately  inflict  pain  on  his  wayward 
children,  without  any  pity!  “When  God  beholds 
the  ineffable  extremity  of  your  case,  and  sees  your 


The  Prophetic  Vision  of  God,  167 

torment  so  vastly  disproportioned  to  your  strength, 
and  sees  how  your  poor  soul  is  crushed  and  sinks 
down,  as  it  were,  into  an  infinite  gloom,  he  will  have 
no  compassion  upon  you,  he  will  not  forbear  the  ex- 
ecutions of  his  wrath,  or  in  the  least  lighten  his 
hand  ; there  shall  be  no  moderation  or  mercy,  nor 
will  God  then  at  all  stay  his  rough  wind  ; he  will 
have  no  regard  to  your  welfare,  nor  be  at  all  careful 
lest  you  should  suffer  too  much,  in  any  other  sense 
than  only  that  you  should  not  suffer  beyond  what 
strict  justice  requires  ; nothing  should  be  withheld.” 
Mark  the  language  ! There  is  nothing  more  terrific 
in  Dante’s  Inferno  or  Milton’s  hell.  “ Nothing  shall 
be  withheld  because  it  is  so  hard  for  you  to  bear.” 
Once  more:  “ Thus  it  will  be  with  you  that  are  in 
an  unconverted  state,  if  you  continue  in  it ; the  in- 
finite might  and  majesty  and  terribleness  of  the 
omnipotent  God  shall  be  magnified  upon  you  in  the 
ineffable  strength  of  your  torments;  you  shall  be 
tormented  in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  Lamb;  and  when  you  shall  be 
in  this  state  of  suffering,  the  glorious  inhabitants  of 
heaven  shall  go  forth  and  look  on  the  awful  specta- 
cle, that  they  may  see  what  the  wrath  and  fierceness 
of  the  Almighty  is;  and  when  they  have  seen  it, 
they  will  fall  down  and  adore  that  great  power  and 
majesty.” 

And  then  I am  asked  to  account  for  the  preva- 
lence and  spread  of  modern  infidelity  ! There  is 
nothing  difficult  in  accounting  for  the  infidelity  of 
any  man  who  has  been  brought  up  to  believe  in  the 


Christian  Manliness . 


1 63 

existence  of  such  a God.  He  is  not  the  God  of  the 
Bible;  he  is  not  the  God  of  the  New  Testament; 
he  is  not  the  God  whom  we  are  commanded  to  love 
with  all  our  heart  and  mind  and  soul  and  strength. 
He  is  a heated,  barbaric,  mediaeval  invention,  worthy 
of  the  worship  only  of  those  who  cower  and  cringe, 
and  are  servile  and  cowardly.  Not  by  the  worship 
of  such  a God  will  men  ever  be  redeemed  from  sin- 
fulness and  cowardice  and  cruelty.  If  God  in  heaven 
can  exhaust  the  full  tide  of  his  power  and  wrath  upon 
his  own  lost  children  ; if  in  heaven,  with  a heart  like 
flint  or  marble  or  stone,  God  may  look  upon  his 
sinning  children,  and  no  tears  ever  bedim  the  infinite 
Father’s  eye  as  the  endless  procession  of  lost  souls 
goes  down  to  eternal  night,  then  how  do  you  ask 
me  to  pity  my  child  when  he  goes  wrong?  How 
do  you  ask  me  to  weep  tears  of  sorrow  over  the  loss 
of  my  son  or  daughter,  if  God  takes  with  perfect  in- 
difference the  loss,  the  eternal  ruin,  of  the  majority 
of  the  children  he  has  made  ? No!  No!  No!  Be- 
fore the  reasonable  intelligence  of  this  time,  before 
the  sweet  spirit  of  Christian  love  that  is  now  abroad 
in  the  world,  such  a cruel  and  wicked  conception 
of  God  is  doomed  to  die.  May  the  day  of  its  death 
hasten  ! 

“Show  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufificeth  us.”  Who 
is  God?  I mean,  who  is  the  Christian  God  ? Not, 
who  is  Jupiter;  not,  who  is  Thor;  not,  who  is  the 
God  of  the  Italian  priests  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  ; 
not,  who  is  this  God  that  regales  heaven  by  leading 
its  inhabitants  to  the  outer  battlements  that  they 


169 


The  Prophetic  Vision  of  God . 

may  joyously  witness  the  torments  of  hell ; but,  who 
is  the  God  of  Jesus  Christ?  He  himself  is.  “ He 
that  hath  seen  ME  hath  seen  the  Father.”  And  who 
and  what  kind  of  a God  is  that?  He  is  the  God 
into  whose  presence  a company  of  sneering,  jeering 
Pharisees  pushed  and  jostled  and  thrust  a guilty 
woman,  with  burning  face,  and  then  in  pious  horror 
stood  aloof,  as  if  to  say:  “ There ! look  at  that  thing  ; 
we  caught  her  in  the  very  act!  Moses  in  the  law 
said  we  should  stone  such  to  death.  Now,  what 
do  you  say?  ” Willing  to  expose  and  put  to  public 
shame  this  poor,  wretched  creature,  if  only  they 
could  entrap  him  ! And  he  stooped  down  and  wrote 
in  the  sand,  and  said  : “ Let  him  that  is  without  fault 
among  you  cast  the  first  stone.”  And  again  he 
stooped  down  and  began  to  write,  while  they,  be- 
ginning with  the  eldest,  went  out  one  after  another, 
until  Infinite  Purity  wras  left  alone  with  human  weak- 
ness, guilt,  and  crime.  “ Where  are  those  thine 
accusers?”  “No  man,  Lord.”  “Neither  do  I 
condemn  thee:  go,  and  sin  no  more.”  I bow  my 
knee  to  Him;  I give  my  heart  to  Him;  I will  follow 
HlS  guidance  as  long  as  I live  ; I will  not  fear  to 
commit  my  soul  to  Him  when  I die.  See,  yonder 
is  a funeral  procession  slowly  winding  about  the 
wall  of  the  city,  seeking  the  burial-place  of  the 
dead.  There  is  one  mourner  only;  she  is  a widow; 
the  dead  man  is  her  only  son.  And  he,  coming 
toward  the  city,  meets  the  sad  procession,  and  with- 
out paying  any  attention  apparently  to  the  dead 
man,  looks  upon  her,  and  “ has  compassion”  on  her; 


1 70  Christian  Manliness . 

and  then  in  pity  he  brings  back  to  life  her  son  and 
her  hope.  He  is  ascending  the  side  of  Olivet,  and 
the  golden  pinnacles  of  the  splendid  temple  flash 
before  him,  and  he  stops  and  says:  “O  Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets,  and  ston- 
est  them  that  are  sent  unto  thee  ; how  oft  would 
I have  gathered  thy  children  together,  as  a hen 
gathereth  her  brood  under  her  wings,  but  ye  would 
not ! Behold,  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate.” 
Who  is  our  God  ? See  that  father  coming  yonder 
with  the  dumb  idiot  boy;  he  foams  at  the  mouth  ; 
he  is  torn,  he  raves,  and  throws  himself  violently 
on  the  ground.  The  poor,  broken-hearted  father 
had  brought  him  to  his  disciples,  and  they  could  do 
nothing  for  him.  He  brings  him  now  to  the  Master, 
and  as  he  approaches  him  he  throws  himself  on  the 
ground,  and  wallows,  foaming!  And  Jesus  stops 
and  says  : “ How  long  ago  since  this  came  to  him  ? ” 
“ Since  he  was  a child  ; and  ofttimes  it  casts  him  into 
water ; and  into  the  fire.  If  thou  canst  do  any  thing, 
help  us.”  And  Jesus  says  : “ All  things  are  possible 
to  him  that  believeth.”  The  father,  through  his 
tears,  cries  out,  “ Lord,  I believe ; help  thou  mine 
unbelief.”  “ I charge  thee,  thou  deaf  and  dumb 
spirit,  come  out  of  him  ; ” and  he  restored  him 
whole  to  his  father!  This  is  our  God  ! On  Sunday 
he  goes  into  a synagogue  in  Capernaum.  The  holy 
people  are  there  ; the  people  who  imagine  that  God 
has  given  into  their  special  keeping  his  holy  day 
and  the  government  of  this  part  of  the  universe. 
They  are  there  \vho  would  pull  their  sheep  or  ass 


The  Prophetic  Vision  of  God. 


171 

out  of  the  pit  very  quickly,  and  here  is  a man  with 
a withered  arm  ; and  they  wait,  and  watch  to  see 
if  Jesus  will  heal  him  on  the  Sabbath  day.  “And 
he  saith,  Stretch  forth  thy  hand.  And  he  stretched  it 
forth,  and  immediately  it  was  whole  like  the  other.” 
Jesus,  who  sent  special  word  to  John  that  the  poor 
have  the  Gospel  preached  unto  them;  Jesus,  who 
fulfilled  in  himself  the  ancient  prophecy  that  he 
would  not  quench  the  smoking  flax  or  break  the 
bruised  reed  ; Jesus,  who,  had  he  but  spoken,  could 
in  an  instant  of  time  have  caused  the  whole  earth, 
with  all  its  populations,  to  have  disappeared  forever, 
but  who  instead  went  meekly  to  the  cross,  and  pa- 
tiently bore  all  its  mysterious  suffering,  and  has 
thus  taught  us  that  strength  is  to  mother  weak- 
ness, that  riches  are  to  feed  poverty,  that  genius  is 
to  serve  ignorance,  that  holiness  is  to  cleanse  guilt, 
that  the  life  and  health  of  the  universe  are  secured 
by  the  sacrificial  love  of  God — who  would  not  love 
and  serve  him  ! And  he  is  God,  for  “ he  that 
hath  seen  me,  hath  seen  the  Father!”  In  this 
truth,  let  us  live ; by  this  truth,  let  us  work  and 
suffer  and  be  patient ; and  by  this  truth  we  need 
not  fear  to  die  ! 

“ Who  fathoms  the  eternal  thought? 

Who  talks  of  scheme  and  plan  ? 

The  Lord  is  God,  he  needeth  not 
The  poor  device  of  man. 

“ I see  the  wrong  that  round  me  lies, 

I feel  the  guilt  within, 

I hear,  with  groan  and  travail  cries. 

The  world  confess  its  sin. 


12 


1/2 


Christian  Manliness . 


44  Yet  in  the  maddening  maze  of  things, 
And  tossed  by  storm  and  flood, 

To  one  fixed  stake  my  spirit  clings ; 

I know  that  God  is  good  ! 

44  And  so  beside  the  silent  sea 
I wait  the  muffled  oar  ; 

No  harm  from  him  can  come  to  me, 

On  ocean  or  on  shore.” 


The  Brave  Choice  of  Moses. 


173 


THE  BRAVE  CHOICE  OF  MOSES. 

By  faith  Moses,  when  he  was  come  to  years,  refused  to  be  called 
the  son  of  Pharaoh’s  daughter;  choosing  rather  to  suffer  affliction 
with  the  people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a season; 
esteeming  the  reproach  of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  in 
Egypt : for  he  had  respect  unto  the  recompense  of  the  reward. — 
Heb.  xi,  24-26. 

The  life  of  Moses  began  amid  obscure  and  per- 
ilous surroundings.  He  was  a slave  child  in  an  an- 
cient Oriental  despotism,  and  a more  unpromising 
beginning,  a sadder,  harder,  more  pitiless  fate,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  conceive.  He  was  born  at 
a time  when  the  fortunes  of  his  people  touched 
their  lowest  point,  for  just  prior  to  his  birth  Pha- 
raoh had  issued  the  murderous  edict  commanding 
every  male  Hebrew  child  as  soon  as  born  to  be  de- 
stroyed by  drowning.  The  strangely  mingled  love, 
faith,  and  cunning  of  his  parents  combined  to  save 
him  for  three  months  from  the  curious,  prying,  in- 
quisitorial eyes  of  the  Egyptian  emissaries.  When, 
however,  concealment  was  no  longer  possible,  they 
hastily  fashioned  the  crude  ark  of  bulrushes,  daubed 
it  without  and  within  with  slime  and  pitch,  placed 
the  goodly  boy-babe  therein,  and  laid  it  in  the  flags 
by  the  river’s  brink.  They  turned  away  doubtless 
with  tears  and  prayers,  but  they  did  not  forget  to 
station  hard  by  the  quick-witted  little  Miriam,  so 


174  Christian  Manliness . 

that  she  could  observe  the  fate  of  the  ark  and  its 
precious  occupant,  and  be  enabled  speedily  to  report 
to  her  parents.  I will  not  attempt  to  trace  in  order 
the  various  events  in  this  remarkable  life  leading  up 
to  the  emergency  of  the  text,  when  we  find  Moses 
making  the  brave  and  momentous  choice  whereby 
he  should  be  forever  enrolled  among  the  heroes  of 
God.  You  all  know  how  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh, 
Thermuthis  by  name,  as  tradition  reports,  going 
down  to  the  river  to  bathe,  observed  the  child,  and 
sent  her  maid  to  fetch  it ; you  remember  how  when 
she  opened  the  ark  the  babe  began  to  cry,  and  she 
had  “ compassion  on  him  ; ” how  suddenly  Miriam 
glides  into  the  presence  of  the  princess,  looking  up 
into  her  face  with  perfect  demureness ; of  her  in- 
imitable naivete  as  she  proposes  to  find  a nurse  for 
the  crying  baby  among  the  Hebrew  women  ; of 
how  thus  his  own  mother  becomes  his  nurse ; the 
princess  adopting  the  foundling  as  her  own  son, 
calling  him  Moses,  “ for,”  she  said,  “ I drew  him 
out  of  the  water.” 

Moses  grew  to  manhood  in  the  court  of  Egypt, 
at  that  time  the  most  splendid  and  luxurious  court 
in  the  whole  world — a place  not  specially  calculated 
to  draw  forth  and  strengthen  the  sterner  and  more 
robust  moral  virtues.  At  the  court  he  was  treated 
as  became  the  son  of  the  daughter  of  the  king. 
How  we  know  not ; but  when  he  came  to  years, 
that  is,  when  he  was  grown  up,  or,  literally,  “ when 
he  became  great,”  he  found  out  in  some  way  whose 
son  he  was  ; what  blood  actually  flowed  in  his  veins ; 


The  Brave  Choice  of  Moses.  175 

his  relationship  to  those  swarthy  Hebrews,  broiling 
in  the  sun  yonder,  mixing  mortar  and  molding  brick. 
What  a revolution  in  his  feelings  ! What  days  of 
separation,  of  meditation,  and  of  loneliness  must 
have  followed  the  discovery.  We  can  readily  im- 
agine the  character  of  his  thoughts  and  feeling 
during  this  time.  The  result  was  the  heroic  deter- 
mination to  confess  his  real  kinship  with  these 
slaves,  and  share  their  dismal  fortunes. 

The  sacrifice  involved,  and  the  complete  change 
in  his  plans,  associations,  and  ambitions  that  must 
necessarily  have  followed  his  decision,  it  is  not  nec- 
essary that  we  formally  unfold.  There  were  many 
inducements  and  solicitations  on  the  side  of  the 
suppression  of  the  facts.  If  he  would  only  quietly 
consent  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh’s  daughter, 
see  what  desirable  things  were  his — at  once  and  al- 
ways ! Riches,  ease,  pleasure,  power,  knowledge, 
ambition,  every  thing  for  eye  and  ear,  and  taste,  and 
desire,  for  the  body  and  the  mind.  On  the  other 
side,  what  were  there  ? Poverty,  toil,  obscurity,  self- 
denial,  self-sacrifice,  pain,  and  suffering — the  closing 
up  against  him  of  every  avenue  of  pleasure,  power, 
fame,  wealth,  and  ambition.  Was  not  this  a trying 
position  for  a young  man?  To  a young  man,  the 
things  he  renounced  were  peculiarly  inviting,  se- 
ductive, and  fascinating,  and  the  things  he  chose 
proportionately  forbidding,  abhorrent,  and  repellent. 
The  noble  sonnet  by  which  Lowell  commemorated 
the  noble  choice  and  rare  self-renunciation  of 
Wendell  Phillips  applies  with  equal  if  not  greater 


iy6 


Christian  Manliness . 


aptness,  beauty,  and  force  to  the  glorious  and  lofty 
choice  of  Moses : 

“ He  stood  upon  the  world’s  broad  threshold  : wide 
The  din  of  battle  and  of  slaughter  rose  ; 

He  saw  God  stand  upon  the  weaker  side, 

That  sank  in  seeming  loss  before  its  foes; 

Many  there  were  who  made  great  haste  and  sold 
Unto  the  cunning  enemy  their  swords. 

He  scorned  their  gifts  of  fame  and  power  and  gold, 

And,  underneath  their  soft  and  flowery  words, 

Heard  the  cold  serpent  hiss  ; therefore  he  went 
And  humbly  joined  him  to  the  weaker  part, 

Fanatic  named,  and  fool,  yet  well  content, 

So  he  could  be  the  nearer  to  God’s  heart, 

And  feel  its  solemn  pulses  sending  blood 
Through  all  the  wide-spread  veins  of  endless  good.” 

Where  are  we  to  look  for  the  explanation,  the 
secret  inspiration,  of  this  conduct  of  Moses  ? It  is 
unusual,  exceptional,  extraordinary.  There  are  not 
many  men  like  Phillips  and  Moses.  What  secret 
power  enabled  him  to  choose  as  he  did?  First,  and 
chiefly,  FAITH  inspired,  directed,  and  sustained  the 
choice.  “ By  faith,  Moses  when  he  was  come  to 
years,  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh’s 
daughter.”  Faith  is  that  power  of  the  soul  by 
which  we  apprehend  the  invisible,  by  which  we  see 
things,  qualities,  facts,  realities,  not  disclosed  to  the 
ordinary  eye.  It  gives  us  realities,  not  semblances; 
the  permanent,  not  the  fleeting  ; the  future,  not  the 
present ; the  real,  not  the  seeming;  the  moral,  not 
the  physical ; the  spiritual,  not  the  secular;  the  eter- 
nal, and  not  the  temporal.  This  power  Moses  pos- 


The  Brave  Choice  of  Moses . 177 

sessed  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  He  saw  ordi- 
nary things  with  his  eyes  just  as  other  men  saw 
them — the  palace,  the  pleasant  gardens  along  the 
Nile,  the  ease,  the  wealth,  the  luxury — he  saw  all 
those  things,  but  he  saw  with  the  eyes  of  his  soul 
far  more  than  he  saw  with  the  eyes  of  his  body. 
He  had  pierced  the  visible  and  seized  the  invisible. 
He  saw  things  as  they  were,  and  not  as  they  seemed 
to  be.  He  knew,  indeed,  whose  son  he  was:  not 
the  son  of  Pharaoh’s  daughter,  nor  of  the  swarthy 
Hebrews  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  but  the  son  of  God  ; 
the  son  of  duty,  of  truth,  of  right.  He  saw  how 
fleeting,  how  unsubstantial,  how  unsatisfying,  how 
base  and  ignoble  were  the  pleasures  of  sin,  of  mere 
sense  and  appetite,  as  compared  with  the  peace  and 
power  that  follow  the  soul’s  obedience  to  the  higher 
law.  He  knew  who  these  Goshen  slaves  were,  too : 
God’s  chosen  people,  and  that  of  them  a King  should 
arise  with  a nobler  rule  than  earth  ever  knew  before, 
with  a dominion  wider  and  more  enduring  than  the 
proudest  Pharaoh  might  ever  boast.  These  were 
some  of  the  disclosures  made  to  him  by  that  su- 
preme faculty  of  the  spirit  described  as  faith. 

He  was  sustained  and  supported,  too,  by  the  con- 
viction that  there  would  come  to  him  a fitting  rec- 
ompense, an  ample  and  glorious  reward.  “ He  had 
respect  unto  the  recompense  of  the  reward.”  Not 
that  he  clearly  foresaw  the  whole  of  the  great  work 
he  was  to  do,  and  the  splendid  reward  which  should 
be  his  for  doing  it,  but  that  he  had  that  secret  sense 
which  all  good  and  true  men  have  that  wherever  in 


178 


Christian  Manliness . 


the  wide  universe  one  seeks  to  do  the  right  he 
shall  not  miss  of  his  reward.  We  can  easily  imag- 
ine what  they  thought  and  said  of  him  about  this 
time  in  the  Egyptian  court  : “ What  a pity  that 
such  a splendid  fellow  should  throw  himself  away  ! ” 
“ He  is  too  squeamish.  He  stands  too  much  on 
trifles.”  It  seems  that  about  this  time  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  They-Say  were  on  a visit  to  the  Egyptian  court. 
“ Foolish  fellow,”  they  say,  “ he  is  throwing  away 
every  thing.”  “ He  is  following  a mere  sentiment. 
He  is  a mere  idle  dreamer.”  Threw  away  every 
thing?  He  gained  everything!  First  of  all,  he 
gained  a lofty  sense  of  self-respect,  without  which 
no  man  is  ever  good,  or  strong,  or  great.  Nor  can 
we  really  respect  ourselves  until  we  do  something 
great — something  that  makes  us  feel  that  we  have 
in  us  the  stuff  out  of  which  heroes  and  saints  are 
made,  something  really  grand  and  noble.  Moses 
must  have  felt  this  kindling  inspiration  on  that  day 
when  he  walked  out  of  the  palace,  never  once  turn- 
ing to  look  back  at  the  splendor  and  glories  he  was 
leaving,  his  face  headed  toward  the  brick-kilns  and 
toiling  slaves  of  Goshen.  “ He  had  respect  unto 
the  recompense  of  the  reward.” 

“ For  he  had  respect  unto  the  recompense  of  the 
reward.”  What  do  mine  eyes  see?  Behold!  the 
Son  of  man  suddenly  transfigured  before  them ! 
His  face  shines  as  the  sun,  and  his  garments  are 
white  as  the  light.  And  what  else  do  I see?  “And, 
behold,  there  appeared  MOSES  and  Elias  talking 
with  him.”  Moses  had  respect  unto  the  recom- 


The  Brave  Choice  of  Moses . 


179 


pense  of  the  reward.  Consider  his  vast  and  co- 
lossal place  and  power  in  human  history.  Con- 
trast with  his  the  proudest  names  in  Greek  and 
Roman  history.  The  position  of  Moses,  as  the  son 
of  Pharaoh’s  daughter,  must  have  appeared  to  the 
court  people  at  the  time  as  one  of  the  first  in  the 
whole  world.  Little  did  they  know  of  the  real  truth 
in  the  matter.  The  name  of  what  Pharaoh,  yea,  or 
what  dozen  Pharaohs,  is  to  be  mentioned  along-side 
of  the  name  of  Moses  now? 

Consider  his  funeral — the  grandest  ever  given  to 
man.  The  Lord  himself  buried  him  there  in  a 
valley  in  the  land  of  Moab. 

“ But  when  the  warrior  dieth 
His  comrades  in  the  war, 

With  arms  reversed  and  muffled  drum, 

Follow  the  funeral  car. 

They  show  the  banners  taken, 

They  tell  his  battles  won, 

And  after  him  lead  his  masterless  steed, 

While  peals  the  minute  gun. 

“ Amid  the  noblest  of  the  land 
Men  lay  the  sage  to  rest, 

And  give  the  bard  an  honored  place 
With  costly  marble  drest, 

In  the  great  minster  transept, 

Where  lights  like  glories  fall, 

And  the  choir  sings  and  the  organ  rings 
Along  the  emblazoned  wall. 

“ This  was  the  bravest  warrior 
That  ever  buckled  sword  ; 

This  the  most  gifted  poet 
That  ever  breathed  a word  ; 


i8o 


Christian  Manliness . 


And  never  earth’s  philosopher 
Traced  with  his  golden  pen 
On  the  deathless  page  truth  half  so  sage 
As  he  wrote  down  for  men. 

“ And  had  he  not  high  honor? 

The  hill-side  for  his  pall, 

To  lie  in  state  while  angels  wait, 

With  stars  for  tapers  tall, 

And  the  dark  rock-pines  like  tossing  plumes 
Over  his  bier  to  wave, 

And  God’s  own  hand  in  the  lonely  land 
To  lay  hirn  in  the  grave.” 

Higher  than  earthly  honor  has  been  accorded  him. 
Once  to  a lonely  exile,  on  a rugged  isle  of  the 
Aegean  Sea,  the  gates  of  the  Eternal  City  were 
thrown  open,  and  he  saw  as  it  were  far  adown  its 
shining  golden  streets.  He  beheld  somewhat  of 
its  mighty  glory  and  triumph,  he  heard  somewhat 
of  its  sublime  symphony  of  joy  and  victory.  And 
what  do  you  think  he  saw,  and  what  do  you  think  he 
heard  ? Hear  him  : “ And  I saw  as  it  were  a sea  of 
glass  mingled  with  fire:  and  them  that  had  gotten 
the  victory  over  the  beast,  and  over  his  image,  and 
over  his  mark,  and  over  the  number  of  his  name,  stand 
on  the  sea  of  glass,  having  the  harps  of  God.  And 
they  sing  the  song  of  MOSES,  the  servant  of  God, 
and  the  song  of  the  Lamb,  saying,  Great  and  mar- 
velous are  thy  works,  Lord  God  Almighty  ; just  and 
true  are  thy  ways,  thou  King  of  saints  ! ” 

Let  us  now  gather  up  some  of  the  lessons  of 
wisdom,  bravery,  success,  and  righteousness  afforded 
us  by  this  history. 


The  Brave  Choice  of  Moses.  1 8 1 

I.  When  young  men  come  to  years  they  are  con- 
strained to  a solemn  and  most  momentous  choice. 
The  earlier  years  of  life  are  largely  those  of  im- 
pression, instinct,  inclination,  impulse,  desire.  It 
is  the  time  for  pictures,  dreams,  ideals,  sentiments, 
enthusiasms.  Every  thing  is  in  a fluid,  plastic  state 
or  condition.  Into  each  life,  however,  there  comes 
at  last  a period  of  “ moral  thoughtfulness,”  as  Ar- 
nold of  Rugby  would  style  it.  Its  essence  is  that 
of  Moses ; that  is,  shall  we  be  real,  or  only  seem  to 
be?  Out  of  this  experience  issue  those  choices 
which  determine  the  drift,  the  ends,  the  character 
of  all  that  is  to  follow.  What  we  are  to  do,  what 
we  are  to  get,  what  we  are  to  achieve,  and,  above 
all,  what  we  are  to  be,  all  depend  upon  the  determi- 
nations of  this  early  era  of  moral  thoughtfulness. 
Such  a crisis  came  to  Moses.  Such  a crisis  comes 
to  every  one  of  us — some  of  us  are  even  now  making 
our  choices. 

You  have  heard  of  the  fabled  choice  of  Hercules. 
When  a young  man,  he  goes  out  to  a solitary  place 
to  muse  upon  his  future  course  in  life.  Two  female 
figures  approach  him  ; one  in  white  apparel,  with  a 
noble  countenance,  open,  innocent,  inviting,  the 
other  loosely,  almost  wantonly  attired,  her  face 
painted  and  bedizened,  with  a bold,  forward  air,  and 
furtively  glancing  about  her  to  see  if  people  looked 
at  her.  As  the  two  drew  nearer,  the  latter  ran 
hastily  forward,  and  addressed  Hercules  with  the 
greatest  familiarity:  “O  Hercules,  I see  that  you 
are  in  great  perplexity  about  your  future  course  in 


lS2 


Christian  Manliness. 


life.  If  you  will  follow  me  you  shall  have  a smooth 
and  charming  road.  You  need  not  burden  your 
mind  with  business,  or  battles,  or  work  of  any  kind. 
Your  entire  study  hereafter  shall  be  where  to  find 
the  best  wines  and  the  most  tempting  dishes,  the 
sweetest  odors  and  the  most  becoming  clothes,  the 
happiest  companions  and  the  merriest  amusements. 
Nor  need  you  take  any  trouble  as  to  the  means 
necessary  to  support  this  style  of  life,  for  certain 
friends  and  familiars  of  mine  will  see  to  it  that  you 
are  liberally  provided  for  in  this  direction.”  “ And 
pray,  madam,”  asked  Hercules,  “ what  might  be 
your  name?”  “ My  real  name  is  Pleasure,  but 
certain  of  my  enemies  have  nicknamed  me  Vice.” 
I fancy  that  she  must  have  blushed — if  Vice  ever 
does  blush — and  dropped  her  head,  as  she  was  giv- 
ing her  name. 

Then  in  a quiet,  serious,  modest  way  spoke  the 
other:  “ Hercules,  I knew  your  parents;  I have 

noted  and  observed  your  ways  from  boyhood,  and 
I am  sure  you  are  capable  of  noble  deeds ; but  I 
must  not  delude  you  with  false  promises.  As  the 
Higher  Powers  have  arranged  the  world,  you  can 
hope  for  nothing  good  or  desirable  without  work. 
If  you  would  number  the  gods  among  your  friends, 
you  must  serve  them  ; if  you  would  be  loved  by 
those  about  you,  you  must  make  yourself  useful  ; 
if  you  want  your  field  to  be  fruitful,  you  must  till 
it  ; if  you  want  to  be  honored  by  all  Greece,  you 
must  render  it  some  brave  and  illustrious  service  ; 
if  you  wish  to  be  a great  warrior,  you  must  take 


The  Brave  Choice  of  Moses.  183 

lessons  from  some  good  soldier;  you  must  bring 
the  body  into  subjection,  and  must  in  every  thing 
submit  to  wise  discipline.”  It  was  a frank,  open 
statement,  concealing  nothing  from  the  fresh,  eager, 
impulsive  spirit,  but  it  won  the  heart  of  Hercules, 
and  at  once  he  rose  up,  and  followed  virtue  along 
the  path  of  duty  and  honor,  and  so  became  the 
renowned  liberator  of  Greece.  To  a like  choice, 
every  young  man  here  feels  himself  divinely 
impelled.  Resist  the  solicitations  of  vice.  Heed 
and  obey  the  solemn  commands  of  virtue  and 
religion. 

2.  This  choice, and  all  similar  ones,  involve  straight- 
forwardness, sincerity,  and  reality.  If  we  carefully 
analyze  this  choice  of  Moses,  if  we  go  to  the  center 
of  the  matter  at  once,  what  do  we  find?  Simply 
that  Moses  meant  to  be  himself  and  not  somebody 
else;  to  be  true,  open,  manly,  honest,  sincere.  He 
was  not  willing  to  be  thought  something  other  than 
he  was,  as,  for  example,  the  son  of  Pharaoh’s  daugh- 
ter, when,  in  fact,  he  was  the  son  of  a Hebrew  slave- 
woman.  He  would  not  sail  under  false  colors!  If 
we  would  imitate  Moses  in  the  essential  spirit  of  his 
decision,  we  must  inflexibly  resolve  never  to  appear 
other  than  we  are. 

3.  The  rewards  of  righteousness,  if  slow,  are  solid, 
substantial,  and  enduring,  and  we  are  to  choose 
them,  however  distant  they  may  seem,  rather  than 
the  temporary  pleasures  of  sin.  They  greatly  err  who 
talk  as  if  sin  had  no  pleasures.  Consider  those 
things  within  easy  reach  of  Moses,  and  tell  me 


Christian  Manliness . 


184 

frankly  if  they  were  not  peculiarly  enticing  and  at- 
tractive, and  especially  to  a young  man.  Ease, 
wealth,  pleasure,  power — while  human  nature  re- 
mains what  it  is  these  things  must  be  attractive  to 
men.  Sin  has  its  pleasures ; they  are  real,  keen, 
zestful,  but  they  are  only  for  a season  ; the  seeds  of 
speedy  death  are  in  them.  The  path  of  righteous- 
ness is  sometimes  dangerous,  sometimes  dismal, 
sometimes  lonely,  sometimes  without  promise  of 
success  or  reward.  Let  it  be  distinctly  known  that 
the  way  of  virtue  is  always  surrounded  with  difficul- 
ties, and  sometimes  is  beset  with  perils.  These 
may  deter  the  indolent,  the  supine,  the  cowardly ; 
but  they  are  only  so  many  bugle  blasts  to  the  ear- 
nest and  the  brave.  The  fruits  of  righteousness 
ripen  slowly,  but  they  ripen,  and  they  are  forever 
sweet  and  pleasant  to  the  taste.  Its  rewards  come 
gradually,  but  they  come,  and  they  are  abiding.  O, 
my  young  friends, 

“ The  path  of  duty  is  the  way  to  glory  ! 

He  that  walks  it,  only  thirsting 
For  the  right,  and  learns  to  deaden 
Love  of  self,  before  his  journey  closes 
He  shall  find  the  stubborn  thistle  bursting 
Into  glossy  purples,  which  outredden 
All  voluptuous  garden-roses.  . . . 

He  that,  ever,  ever  following  her  commands, 

On  with  toil  of  heart  and  knees  and  hands, 

Thro’  the  long  gorge  to  the  far  light  has  won 
His  path  upward,  and  prevailed. 

Shall  find  the  toppling  crags  of  duty  scaled 
Are  close  upon  the  shining  table-lands 
To  which  our  God  himself  is  sun  and  moon.” 


The  Brave  Choice  of  Moses . 185 

4.  We,  no  more  than  Moses,  can  come  to  power 
and  success  here  without  the  blessed  and  glorious 
illuminations  and  inspirations  of  faith.  The  young 
man  as  he  looks  around  him  must  see  many  tempt- 
ing pleasures,  and  as  he  looks  within  his  own  heart 
and  nature  he  discovers  strong  desires  pleading  for 
gratification.  The  enticements  and  allurements  of 
the  life  of  the  flesh,  of  the  present,  of  pleasure,  are 
immediate,  insinuating,  numerous,  and  potent. 
Have  you  never  heard  the  young  man’s  strong  plea 
for  himself,  as  for  the  first  time  he  looks  upon  the 
world  of  forbidden  and  tempting  pleasures  ? This 
young  man,  Moses,  might  have  urged  a plea  in  his 
own  behalf — how  strong,  how  plausible,  how  natu- 
ral, how  nicely  calculated  to  deceive  ! We  need,  as 
Moses  needed,  the  power  of  faith.  We  will  not 
make  the  present  serve  the  future  until  we  see  that 
future  to  be  greater  than  this  present,  and  only  faith 
can  show  us  this.  And  so  with  all  the  other  malign 
elements  with  which  we  are  in  conflict.  There  must 
come  to  us  the  quick  insight,  the  far  outlook,  the 
firm  and  steady  grasp  of  faith  before  we  will  be 
strong  enough  to  renounce  all  the  pleasures  of  sin, 
to  embrace  a life  of  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice, 
strong  enough  to  denounce  and  fight  the  popular 
and  profitable  lie,  strong  enough  “ to  dare  to  be  in 
the  right  with  two  or  three.” 

Here  you  stand,  many  of  you,  at  the  parting  of 
the  ways.  There  are  two  ways,  let  men  say  what 
they  will.  One  is  the  right  way,  the  other  is  the 
wrong  way.  There  is  a difference  in  the  ways,  and 


Christian  Manliness . 


1 86 

you  see  it . Choose  you  must.  There  is  no  evading 
it.  You  cannot  stand  there  forever , refusing  to  de- 
cide. That  is  simply  one  method  of  choosing  the 
wrong  way.  How  will  you  choose?  In  the  strife 
of  truth  with  falsehood,  once  to  every  man  upon 
this  earth  comes  the  moment  to  decide  for  the  good 
or  evil  side.  Woe  to  that  man  who  in  such  a crisis 
chooses  darkness  rather  than  light!  Better  were  it 
for  that  man  that  he  had  never  been  born.  To-day 
the  cause  of  evil  may  prosper,  but  Truth  alone  is 
strong,  and  around  her  “ throng  troops  of  beautiful, 
tall  angels  to  enshield  her  from  all  wrong/’  To-day 
the  swart  kinsmen  of  Moses  are  slaves  in  the  land 
of  Goshen  ; to-morrow  they  are  a royal  priesthood, 
a nation  of  inspired  prophets,  disclosing  the  will  of 
the  Eternal  One,  and  Moses  is  their  anointed  leader. 
There  are  two  ways!  Which  will  you  choose? 
May  that  God  who  opened  the  eyes  of  Moses,  and 
filled  his  heart  with  grace,  humility,  and  wisdom, 
now  grant  unto  you  the  power  to  choose  the  right, 
the  brave,  the  true,  and  manly  way!  and  may  he 
uphold  you  therein  until  you  and  we  and  all  of  us 
ascend  on  high  to  swell  the  number  of  those  who, 
having  “ gotten  the  victory  over  the  beast,  and  over 
his  image,  and  over  his  mark,  and  over  the  number 
of  his  name,  stand  on  the  sea  of  glass,  mingled 
with  fire,  and  sing  the  song  of  MOSES  the  servant 
of  God,  and  the  song  of  the  Larnb,  saying,  Great 
and  marvelous  are  thy  works,  Lord  God  Almighty ; 
just  and  true  are  thy  ways,  thou  King  of  saints!  ” 


Omissions  in  the  Preaching  of  Jesus . 187 


SIGNIFICANT  OMISSIONS  IN  THE  PREACH- 
ING OF  JESUS. 

From  that  time  Jesus  began  to  preach,  and  to  say,  Repent:  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. — Matt,  iv,  17. 

JESUS  was  a perpetual  surprise  to  his  contempo- 
raries. He  did  and  said  many  things  for  which  they 
were  totally  unprepared,  and  he  left  undone  and 
unsaid  those  things  they  confidentl}'  expected  him 
to  do  and  to  say.  The  leaders  of  Jewish  thought 
and  politics  at  that  time  were  sharply  disappointed 
in  him  at  every  fresh  phase  of  his  life.  They  looked 
for  the  political  restoration  of  Israel.  He  seemed 
almost  utterly  indifferent  to  their  political  condi- 
tion and  ambitions.  They  were  hedging  about  the 
law  with  confusing  and  cumbersome  traditions,  mak- 
ing it  hard  for  plain  people  to  be  good.  He  openly 
antagonized  their  exacting  and  oppressive  ceremo- 
nial observances,  and  declared  himself  and  his  disci- 
ples forever  free  from  the  narrow  and  vain  “traditions 
of  men.”  They  expected  their  Messiah  to  impose 
the  Mosaic  regulations  upon  the  Gentile  nations,  or, 
in  the  event  of  their  contumacy,  to  thresh  them  as 
with  a rod  of  iron.  He  taught  that  all  the  law  and 
the  prophets  consisted  in  loving  God  with  the  whole 
heart,  and  one’s  neighbor  as  one’s  self.  They  looked 

forward  to  a time  when  all  nations  should  flow  to 
13 


1 88  Christian  Manliness. 

Jerusalem  as  the  one  acknowledged  center  of  the 
world’s  political  light  and  governance,  as  well  as  of 
its  religious  faith  and  worship.  He  taught  a guilty 
and  proscribed  Samaritan  woman  that  the  time 
had  come  when  honest,  open-hearted  men  might 
every-where  worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in 
truth.  They  demanded  of  him  who  should  redeem 
Israel  that  he  should  maintain  himself  in  gorgeous 
royal  state,  that  he  should  surround  himself  with 
glittering  earthly  pomp  and  splendor,  that  his  strong 
right  arm  should  be  swift  to  execute  vengeance 
upon  his  foes,  and  that  with  swelling  pride  and 
power  he  should  put  his  foot  upon  the  neck  of  his 
prostrate  enemies.  He  spent  by  far  the  greater 
portion  of  his  life  among  rude  and  plain  people,  not 
differing  in  outward  appearance,  dress,  and  carriage 
markedly  from  his  compatriots.  He  selected  his 
inner  circle  of  disciples  from  among  the  ranks  of  the 
common  people ; he  daily  lived  with  them  on  terms 
of  equality  and  familiarity,  and  the  occupation 
which  wholly  absorbed  his  time  and  energies  was 
that  of  a simple  and  ardent  preacher  of  obedience 
to  God  and  love  to  man.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  his 
contemporaries  should  be  keenly  disappointed  in 
him  ? 

How  does  Jesus  appear  to  modern  thought?  Is 
there  not  something  strange  and  unexpected  about 
him  even  to  us?  Remembering  who  he  was,  stand- 
ing squarely  upon  our  doctrinal  basis,  namely,  that 
he  was  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  that  the  life  he 
lived  was  the  divine  life,  subject  to  physical  and 


Omissions  in  the  Preaching  of  Jesus . 1 89 

time  conditions,  was'hiscourse  and  mannerof  life  such 
as  we  should  have  imagined  beforehand?  This  is 
our  faith,  that  in  him  dwelt  all  the  fullness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily,  and  holding  fast  by  this,  I ask,  Did 
he  live  and  act  as  we  should  have  supposed  God  to 
live  and  act  were  he  to  appear  in  human  form  ? Re- 
member his  great  words  to  Philip,  “ He  that  hath 
seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father.”  Does  his  life  seem 
a natural  one  in  the  eyes  of  the  modern  man?  Es- 
pecially, so  far  forth  as  he  was  a preacher  and  teach- 
er, was  his  preaching  and  teaching  what  we  would 
have  expected  under  the  conditions  supposed? 
Have  you  ever  marked,  and,  marking,  have  you  ob- 
served\ mused , reflected  upon , the  singular  and  strik- 
ing omissions  of  Jesus  as  a preacher?  Do  you  ever 
reflect  upon  what  he  did  not  preach  about  ? And 
have  you  reflected  upon  the  significance  of  these 
omissions?  For  we  may  be  sure  that  in  his  silence 
and  reserve  there  is  a revelation  of  God’s  will.  Con- 
sider some  of  the  subjects  which,  so  far  as  we  can 
observe  or  discover,  never  directly  or  formally  en- 
tered into  his  preaching. 

He  does  not  anywhere  discuss  the  subject  of  war; 
its  horribleness,  its  cruelty,  its  futility  as  a means 
of  settling  disputes  among  nations,  its  sinfulness,  or 
the  best  method  of  ridding  the  world  of  the  awful 
curse.  He,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  never  once,  as  far 
as  we  can  find  out,  preached  a sermon  on  war.  He 
is  likewise  silent  on  the  general  subject  of  slavery, 
although  the  world  was  groaning  under  the  gigantic 
wrong!  He  gave  not  a single  hint,  directly  and 


190  Christian  Manliness . 

avowedly,  as  to  how  men  were  to  proceed  in  order 
to  secure  universal  emancipation.  At  no  time  or 
place  did  he  take  up  and  consider  the  vitally  im- 
portant question  of  the  relation  of  woman  to  the 
State,  to  the  government,  to  education,  to  man,  to 
the  general  welfare.  It  is  a modern  unbeliever  who 
writes  of  the  alleged  “ subjugation  of  woman.”  It 
is  in  vain  that  we  search  the  reported  discourses  of 
Jesus  to  ascertain  his  mind  as  to  the  best  form  of 
government  among  men — a subject  of  vast  impor- 
tance, and  concerning  which  good  and  wise  men 
widely  differ.  There  is  not  a single  paragraph  in 
any  of  his  sermons  as  to  the  relative  importance  of 
the  physical,  mental,  and  moral  elements  of  human 
evolution  and  civilization.  He  is  utterly  silent  as 
to  the  influence  of  art  on  civilization,  on  religion, 
on  liberty,  on  general  progress.  He  sketched  no 
plan,  gave  us  the  outline  of  no  scheme,  for  the  reor- 
ganization of  society. 

He  did  not  anticipate  any  of  the  methods  of  mod- 
ern philosophy  or  study,  or  any  of  the  great  discov- 
eries of  modern  science,  or  their  application  to  the 
conduct  and  comforts  of  life. 

What,  then,  I am  asked,  did  he  preach  about  ? 
The  text  tells  us — u Repent.”  This  was  the  heart 
and  substance  of  his  preaching.  Comprehensively 
this  sums  it  all  up,  compacts  it  for  us.  We  must 
not  forget  what  this  word  “ Repent  ” contains  or 
includes  in  the  preaching  of  Jesus.  It  includes 
every  active  process  by  which  men  break  with  evil, 
its  seduction  and  thrall ; all  that  we  mean  by  con- 


Omissions  in  the  Preaching  of  Jesus.  19 1 

viction,  penitence,  abandonment  of  evil,  faith,  con- 
secration, prayer,  and  the  like.  It  meant  an  imme- 
diate, radical,  profound  change  and  evolution  in  a 
man’s  moral  life.  It  included  all  that  was  neces- 
sary, on  man’s  part,  to  enable  him  to  become  in 
very  deed  a partaker  of  the  Divine  Nature,  a sharer 
of  God’s  holiness. 

What  may  we  learn  from  this  opening  up  of  the 
passage  ? 

1.  In  the  estimate  of  the  divine  Jesus,  sin  is  not 
only  a real  and  stubborn  fact,  but  an  awful,  ruinous, 
and  tremendous  fact.  What  does  he  do?  He 
comes,  a God,  to  redeem  the  world,  and  where  and 
how  does  he  begin  ? With  the  customs  of  men, 
their  conditions,  or  laws,  or  institutions?  On  the 
outside?  Nay,  but  at  the  very  center  of  personal, 
individual  moral  being.  What  is  his  evident,  chief, 
glowing  concern  for  men  ? Is  it  not  that  they  shall 
be  at  once  rescued  from  the  thrall  and  service  of 
evil?  We  may  be  sure  that  he,  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh,  would  give  himself  at  once  to  the  detec- 
tion, the  uprooting,  the  extirpation  of  that  form  of 
danger  and  peril  which  he  believed  most  seriously 
menaced  man’s  true  life  ; and,  judging  by  his  deeds, 
his  works,  his  disposition,  and  his  words,  that  peril 
was  the  dread  and  awful  mystery  we  seek  to  ex- 
press by  the  word  u sin.” 

See  the  wide  difference  at  this  point  between 
Jesus,  and  the  thought  and  conduct  of  men.  Men 
even  dispute  the  reality  of  sin  as  a fact,  and  allege 
that  if  it  is  a fact  it  is  a light,  easy,  trivial,  venial 


192 


Christian  Manliness . 


matter.  If  men  do  not,  in  so  many  words,  say  these 
things,  they  act  as  if  these  things  were  true.  Judg- 
ing men  by  their  lives,  by  their  deeds,  by  their  daily 
conduct,  what  do  they  say?  They  confess  that  cer- 
tain things  are  to  be  dreaded — as  pain,  ignorance, 
poverty,  labor,  disease,  death.  By  their  acts  are 
they  not  saying  that  poverty  is  more  to  be  dreaded 
than  evil,  pain  than  sin,  toil  than  covetousness?  Are 
not  most  men  seeking,  first,  in  point  of  time,  of  im- 
portance, of  earnestness,  health,  knowledge,  longev- 
ity, comfort,  place,  position,  power,  wealth,  luxury? 
What,  after  all,  is  the  strenuous  endeavor  of  human 
life  as  we  see  it  about  us?  Is  it  righteousness?  Is 
it  God's  peace  ? Or,  is  it  wealth,  power,  fame? 

Let  us  remember,  then,  what  is  hidden  in  any  fair, 
straightforward,  honest  interpretation  of  these  words 
of  the  Lord  Jesus;  namely,  that  sin  is  the  sternest 
and  awfulest  fact  with  which  we  have  to  do,  that 
moral  evil  is  the  evil  most  to  be  dreaded  and  fought. 

2.  In  the  divine  thought  and  purpose,  as  disclosed 
to  us  in  the  life  and  preaching  of  Jesus,  the  re- 
demption of  man  from  the  evils  which  afflict,  op- 
press, and  weaken  him  is  to  be  effected,  not  all  at 
once,  by  direct  divine  fiat  or  sovereign  decree,  but 
slowly  and  gradually,  through  the  regeneration  of 
the  individual,  man  by  man,  one  at  a time.  I have 
said  that  Jesus  omitted  war,  slavery,  woman,  gov- 
ernment, education,  art,  as  formal  topics  in  his 
preaching.  But  was  he  indifferent  to  war?  Did 
he  have  no  sympathy  with  the  slaves?  Recked 
he  not  as  to  whether  men  lived  under  tyrants  or 


Omissions  in  the  Preaching  of  Jesus.  193 

exulted  in  liberty?  We  may  not  suppose  for  a sin- 
gle moment  that  Jesus  was  not  concerned  as  to 
these  matters.  By  all  his  love  for  us,  these  things 
must  have  deeply  concerned  him.  We  know  in 
fact  that  they  did.  He  must  have  designed  their 
overthrow  and  destruction,  so  far  as  they  annoy, 
and  vex,  and  enthrall,  and  weaken,  and  destroy  us. 
How  does  he  mean  to  effect  it?  By  first  making 
each  man  right,  pure,  and  sound,  beginning  with  re- 
pentance. The  answer  is  in  the  text:  “Repent." 
This  word  comes  to  each  man,  in  his  own  sole,  di- 
rect, immediate  responsibility,  and  not  to  men  in 
groups.  The  word  is  not  to  men  in  states  and  na- 
tions, “ Repent,  change  your  laws,  customs,  policies, 
institutions,  etc.,"  but  to  each  individual  man  the 
word  is,  “ Repent,  change  your  own  heart  and  life, 
turn  from  evil,  lay  hold  on  all  that  is  good."  This 
is  the  plan  of  Jesus. 

There  is  another  method  ; that,  namely,  of  the 
world.  It  proposes  the  removal  of  evils,  the  relief 
of  man's  distresses  by  giving  him  perfect  conditions. 
By  understanding  it,  we  will  be  enabled  to  gain  an 
insight  into  the  weakness  of  the  method  of  the 
average  professional  social  and  legislative  reformer. 
What  does  this  method  say?  As  to  war,  for  exam- 
ple: “ Form  peace  societies,  substitute  arbitration 

for  the  sword,  appeal  to  the  self-interest  of  the  peo- 
ple, disarm  the  nations."  This  would  all  do  very 
well  if  it  took  the  war-spirit — the  spirit  that  foments 
and  breeds  war — out  of  men's  hearts.  “Change 
your  laws,  your  customs,  your  institutions,  and  this 


194 


Christian  Manliness . 


evil  will  disappear,”  is  the  message  of  the  average 
professional  reformer. 

Contrast  with  this  the  slower,  the  more  patient, 
less  showy,  more  thorough-going  method  of  Jesus. 
His  message  is,  “ Change  your  men,  and  evils  of  all 
kinds  will  gradually  and  surely  disappear.”  Test 
his  method.  Consider,  for  example,  this  vexatious 
tenement-house  question.  Of  what  use  are  your 
laws  against  the  grasping  landlord,  or  any  other  so- 
cial criminal,  unless  you  change  him  in  nature, 
heart,  disposition?  He  will  only  change  his  form 
of  oppression  and  cruelty,  just  as  fast  as  you  change 
your  laws,  unless  by  repentance,  faith,  prayer,  you 
take  the  greed  and  selfishness  out  of  him.  It  is 
precisely  so  with  the  temperance  reform.  The 
average  professional  temperance  reformer  says, 
“Take  liquor  away  from  men,  and  intemperance 
will  cease.”  Certainly,  but  for  how  long  a time? 
Until  the  man  can  get  to  it  again.  Jesus  says, 
“Make  men  stronger  than  liquor;  by  repentance, 
faith,  conversion,  take  the  bad  appetite  out  of  men, 
utterly  uproot  it,  change  their  hearts,  and  liquor 
will  disappear.” 

Did  we  not  find  at  the  close  of  the  war,  in  the 
case  of  the  negroes,  that  emancipation  did  not 
mean  character.  Were  we  not  compelled  to  take 
them,  man  by  man,  and  gradually  restore,  recover, 
and  regenerate  them,  one  at  a time  ? Did  we  not 
recognize  this,  and  at  once  begin  the  work?  And 
are  we  not  at  it  now,  with  our  societies,  schools,  and 
churches? 


Omissions  in  the  Preaching  of  Jesus . 195 

The  Christianity  of  Jesus  is  the  sole  hope  of  the 
world.  Every  time  we  adopt  the  methods  of  shal- 
low social  empirics,  we  weaken  our  cause  and  post- 
pone the  day  of  the  world’s  salvation.  It  is  slow, 
but  it  recognizes  the  stern  fact  of  SIN.  Its  message 
is  still  what  it  was  at  the  first,  “ Repent.”  There 
is  indeed  to  be  a perfect  society  in  this  world,  but 
it  will  be  composed  of  perfect  men.  Brethren,  an- 
other world  is  to  come,  and  we,  according  to  his 
promise,  look  for  a new  heaven  and  a new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  The  perfect  world 
of  which  we  dream  is  coming,  but  it  will  be  here 
only  when  this  world  is  filled  with  perfect  men  ; 
when  each  man  in  the  world  hears  and  obeys  for 
himself  the  divine  command,  “ Repent  when  each 
man  breaks  with  the  evil  that  enthralls  him,  casts 
out  of  him  every  thing  that  defileth,  and  sets  up 
within  his  own  heart  that  love,  and  righteousness, 
and  joy  in  which  is  the  kingdom  of  God.  May  that 
blessed  day  hasten  ! 

3.  Our  discernment  of  the  reality  and  nearness 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  conditioned  upon  the 
" genuineness  and  thoroughness  of  our  repentance. 
Is  there  a kingdom  of  heaven  at  all?  Is  it  jnot  all 
a dream?  Has  God  a kingdom  here?  Men  omi- 
nously shake  their  heads,  and  say,  “No;  there  may 
be  a kingdom  of  heaven,  but  it  is  not  here.  Where 
are  the  signs  of  it  ? The  Lord  is  slack  concerning 
his  promise.”  The  words  they  speak  and  the  ad- 
verse signs  to  which  they  point  cannot  dim  our 
faith.  “Alas!”  they  say,  “our  hearts  are  sick 


1 96  Christian  Manliness . 

through  deferred  hope.  If  there  be  a kingdom  of 
heaven  at  all,  one  thing  is  quite  certain — it  is  not 
here.  There  may  be  one  somewhere  else  ; perhaps 
there  is,  we  hope  there  is ; but  there  is  none  here  in 
this  world.” 

Jesus  speaks  directly  to  the  contrary.  He 
says  it  is  here ; it  “is  at  hand."  My  business  is  to 
explain  and  vindicate  his  words.  It  is  “ at  hand.” 
This  he  says  every-where  and  always,  quietly  and 
calmly. 

Here  again  is  obvious  discrepancy,  direct,  sharp 
collision,  between  what  men  see  and  say,  and  what 
Jesus  saw  and  said.  How  is  it  to  be  explained? 
The  single  word  “ Repent  ” explains  it,  but  we 
must  remember  how  much  he  makes  that  word 
to  mean.  We  will  not  see  that  kingdom  except 
we  repent.  He  never  promised  that  we  should 
see  it  on  any  other  condition.  It  is  given  to 
the  heavenly  minded  man  to  see  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  to  the  godlike  man  to  see  the  kingdom 
of  God,  just  as  it  is  given  to  the  noble-minded  man 
to  see  nobleness,  and  the  pure-minded  man  to  see 
purity. 

Have  you  not,  at  blessed  and  glorious  intervals, 
caught  a glimpse  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ? Did 
you  not  on  some  bright  day,  some  day  of  straight 
thinking  and  clear  seeing,  some  day  when  you  were 
caught  up  and  beheld  things  which  it  is  impossible 
for  a man  to  utter,  begin  to  discern  the  outlines  of 
a divine  order  and  rule  in  this  world?  When,  how, 
under  what  conditions,  did  it  please  God  to  vouch- 


Omissions  in  the  Preaching  of  Jesus . 197 

safe  you  the  vision  ? It  was  when  you  felt  yourself 
to  be  in  blessed  sympathy  with  God.  Into  this 
kingdom  we  will  enter  and  abide,  if  our  repentance 
be  genuine,  thorough,  lasting. 

The  preaching  of  Jesus  brings  a universal  message 
of  mercy,  love,  and  hope.  To  whom  does  this  word 
come?  To  a select  and  favored  class?  No,  but  to 
all  men.  Mark  well  the  form  of  the  words,  “ Re- 
pent ye,”  not,  “ Be  ye  repented.”  Is  not  this  mes- 
sage one  of  large  mercy  and  hope? 

See  yonder  man,  the  victim  of  a hideous  disorder. 
He  is  broken  out  all  over  with  loathsome  ulcers,  re- 
pulsive to  his  friends,  a burden  and  a misery  to  him- 
self, his  life  surely  slipping  away.  The  quack's 
prescription  is,  “ Cover  the  ulcers  with  flesh-like 
plasters,  and  you  will  surely  grow  better.”  Is  this 
merciful  treatment?  Is  there  any  hope  in  it?  And 
what  now  does  his  intelligent  and  kind  physician 
say?  “Repent;  repent  at  once;  change  immedi- 
ately your  whole  manner  of  life.  The  change 
must  be  instant,  radical,  thorough.  It  must  in- 
clude your  food,  and  drink,  and  associations,  and 
sleep,  and  air,  every  thing.  Do  this,  and  the  king- 
dom of  health  is  at  hand.  Your  ulcers  will  dis- 
appear, and  you  will  be  once  more  a well  and 
strong  man.”  Is  not  this  the  message  the  man 
needs,  and  is  it  not  full  of  mercy  and  hope? 
This  is  the  message  of  Jesus  to  men.  Yes,  it  is 
his  message  this  day  to  you.  In  imitation  of 
him,  I declare  to  you,  in  his  name  and  on  his 
gracious  authority,  “ Repent ! Repent ! the  king- 


198 


Christian  Manliness . 


dom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.”  Enter  it.  Keep  its 
laws.  Give  it  the  first  place  in  your  plan  of 
life.  If  you  will  submit  yourself  to  the  rule 
and  service  of  its  King  he  will  guide  you  by  his 
counsels  here,  and  afterward  he  will  receive  you 
to  glory  ! 


The  Moral  Harvest. 


199 


THE  MORAL  HARVEST. 


Say  not  ye,  There  are  yet  four  months,  and  then  cometh  harvest? 
behold,  I say  unto  you,  Lift  up  your  eyes,  and  look  on  the  fields ; for 
they  are  white  already  to  harvest.— John  iv,  35. 

JESUS  was  a most  unconventional  teacher. 
Looked  at  from  one  side — from  the  point  of  view 
occupied  by  the  pious,  steady-going,  orthodox  Jews 
• — he  was  an  irregular  and  disturbing  preacher,  and 
they  so  esteemed  him.  Looked  at  in  a larger  and 
broader  spirit,  and  from  a higher  stand-point,  as  the 
divine  Founder  of  an  enduring,  invisible,  spiritual 
empire,  uncaring  of  the  accidents  of  race  and  time 
and  clime  and  caste,  his  course  was  eminently 
rational,  natural,  and  inevitable. 

The  immediate  context  brings  Jesus  before  us, 
where  we  may  study  him  as  an  irregular  Teacher  if 
we  take  the  narrow  view  ; or  as  an  eminently  regular 
Teacher  if  we  take  the  truer,  broader,  and  more 
sympathetic  view. 

As  he  was  returning  from  the  city  of  Jerusalem 
to  Galilee,  after  his  first  formal  official  visit  to  the 
capital  of  his  nation,  he  reached,  about  noon, 
Jacob’s  well  in  Samaria,  and  there,  wearied  and  * 
over-spent,  he  sat  down  upon  the  stones  hard  by 
the  well,  while  his  disciples  went  into  the  city  to 
buy  some  meat.  What  were  his  communings  and 


200 


Christian  Manliness . 


thoughts  as  he  sat  there?  Nothing  is  more  im- 
pressive than  the  silences. of  Jesus.  I love  to  think 
of  him  as  alone;  and  it  is  a help  to  one’s  spiritual 
life  to  try  to  imagine  what  he  thought  about  at 
such  times. 

While  he  was  musing  there  and  resting — for  he 
was  a man  having  a body  capable  of  fatigue  as  our 
bodies — a woman  of  the  city  came  with  her  water- 
pot  on  her  head  or  shoulder  to  get  water  from 
Jacob’s  well.  He  knew  who  and  what  manner  of 
woman  she  was  before  he  spoke  one  word  to  her. 
Her  heart  and  her  life  lay  open  before  him  like  the 
pages  of  a book.  Nevertheless  he  freely  entered 
into  conversation  with  her,  and  his  method  of  ap- 
proaching her  with  the  truth  deserves  to  be  noted, 
studied,  and  emphasized.  First,  he  asked  her  for 
water  to  drink,  and  she  was  surprised  that  he,  being 
a Jew,  should  ask  drink  of  a woman  of  Samaria,  for 
the  Jews  had  no  dealings  with  the  Gentiles,  and  she 
at  once  expressed  her  great  surprise.  Whereupon 
Jesus  replied  that  if  she  knew  what  kind  of  water 
he  could  give  to  her  spirit  she  would  ask  him,  and 
he  would  give  her  this  living  water.  Thereupon  she 
reproached  him  for  believing  himself  to  be  wiser  and 
stronger  than  their  father  Jacob,  who  gave  them  this 
well;  and  upon  Jesus  telling  her  that  whosoever 
drank  of  the  water  of  the  well  should  thirst  again, 
but  that  they  who  should  have  their  spirits  satisfied 
by  the  living  water  should  never  thirst,  she  at  once 
wanted  this  living  water,  for  she  did  not  want  to 
be  constantly  going  to  this  well  to  draw  water. 


The  Moral  Harvest . 


201 


There  are  a good  many  people  like  her  in  this  re- 
spect. There  are  many  people  who  want  water,  but 
they  do  not  want  to  draw  it.  She  was  not  the  only 
lazy  person  that  ever  lived.  And  if  you  spiritualize 
it,  there  are  a great  many  people  that  want  religious 
strength  and  peace,  and  religious  joy  and  hope,  but 
they  do  not  want  to  draw  any  water;  they  do  not 
want  to  do  any  Christian  work ; they  do  not  want 
to  make  any  sacrifice,  or  to  deny  themselves,  that 
they  may  have  Christ’s  peace. 

Then  Jesus  said  unto  her,  “ Go  and  call  thy  hus- 
band.” Ah ! that  opened  a door  into  her  secret 
heart,  for  she  had  no  husband.  She  had  had  five 
husbands,  and  the  man  with  whom  she  was  now 
living  was  her  paramour,  and  not  her  husband.  At 
once  she  felt  herself  in  the  presence  of  a divinely 
gifted  teacher.  And  how  did  she  seek  to  parry  the 
inquiry?  By  raising  a question  in  theology — - 
“ Where  is  it  right  to  worship — on  this  mountain, 
or  yonder  at  Jerusalem?”  Guilty  as  she  was,  she 
could  still  argue  points  in  speculative  theology,  and 
so  she  wanted  to  know  whether  it  was  better  to 
worship  on  Gerizim  or  go  up  to  Jerusalem.  The 
Lord  answered  her  that  the  time  had  come  when 
sincere  men  might  worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and 
in  truth  anywhere,  every-where,  either  on  Gerizim 
or  at  Jerusalem,  or  at  any  point  between  them,  on 
the  land  or  the  sea,  in  the  consecrated  build- 
ing, or  on  the  unconsecrated  street — wherever  there 
was  a spirit  that  loved  truth  and  sought  good- 
ness. 


202 


Christian  Manliness . 


While  he  was  talking  with  the  woman  his  disci- 
ples came  back  from  the  city,  where  they  had  been 
to  buy  meat  for  the  frugal  noon-day  meal.  They 
were  surprised  when  they  saw  him  talking  to  her; 
the  text  says  “ they  marveled/'  If  you  will  study  the 
New  Testament  you  will  be  surprised  at  the  anxious 
concern  these  disciples  had  about  the  proper  conduct 
of  Jesus.  They  are  like  a certain  class  of  people  in 
every  church,  who  are  so  anxious  about  the  preacher, 
and  about  his  reputation,  that  it  shall  be  kept  regu- 
lar, clean,  and  decorous,  that  they  almost  forget  to 
take  care  of  their  own  souls.  These  disciples  were 
anxious  their  Lord  should  not  do  any  thing  irregu- 
lar, so  when  they  saw  him  talking  to  this  strange 
woman  they  “ marveled."  But  they  did  not  care  to 
ask  him  any  thing  about  it.  Jesus  was  the  ideal,  so- 
cial Democrat  of  all  time — he  talked  freely  to  all 
sorts  of  people.  But  he  never  allowed  any  body  to 
ask  him  why  he  did  it.  He  had  true  dignity,  the 
dignity  of  person,  of  soul,  of  character,  and  these  men 
who  were  surprised  that  he  talked  to  this  heretical 
woman  (who  added  to  laxity  of  doctrine  looseness 
of  life),  these  men  whispered  among  themselves, 
but  they  did  not  dare  to  ask  him  why  he  talked 
to  her. 

It  seemed  to  them  that  the  Master  was  in  a 
dreamy,  far-off  sort  of  mood.  They  began  to  talk 
to  him  about  eating,  and  he  said,  “ I have  meat  to 
eat  that  ye  know  not  of."  They  entirely  misunder- 
stood him  again,  for  they  went  aside  and  asked, 
“ Has  any  man  brought  him  to  eat?"  His  mind 


The  Moral  Harvest . 


203 

and  spirit  were  in  another  realm  ; they  were  think- 
ing about  the  meat  they  had  with  them. 

The  barley  fields  that  covered  the  valley  all  about 
prophesied  harvest  in  four  months,  and,  waiting  for 
him  to  speak  (for  they  had  learned  somewhat  to 
respect  the  personal  dignity  of  their  Master),  they 
were  saying  to  themselves,  “ In  four  months  from 
this  time  it  will  be  time  to  cut  the  barley ; ” and  he 
said,  “ Say  not  ye,  There  are  yet  four  months,  and 
then  cometh  harvest?  behold,  I say  unto  you,  Lift 
up  your  eyes,  and  look  on  the  fields ; for  they  are 
white  already  to  harvest/’  They  saw  the  barley 
fields;  and  he  saw  the  harvest  field  that  was  opened 
before  him  by  the  presence  and  life  of  this  woman. 
He  was  thinking  of  far  more  than  they  thought,  as 
he  had  a yearning  for  men  far  deeper  than  any  they 
had.  He  saw  the  moral  harvest  ready  for  the  sickle 
of  the  reaper  every-where ; but  their  minds  were 
busy  about  the  barley  harvest. 

There  be  those  who  are  skilled  to  discern  times 
and  seasons  and  opportune  tides  in  the  affairs  of 
men  in  every  realm  except  the  spiritual  and  invisi- 
ble. These  disciples,  for  example,  knew  the  time 
to  cut  barley;  the  Jewish  leaders  of  this  time  could 
seize  a political  opportunity ; they  knew  exactly 
how  to  strike  a bargain  with  Herod — they  had  stud- 
ied Herod,  and  rightly  estimated  the  influences  that 
put  him  in  his  place ; they  understood  Pilate,  and 
when  the  time  came  to  apprehend  the  Master  they 
knew  exactly  what  cry  would  bring  Pilate  to  terms  ; 

they  understood  facts  and  times  and  seasons  and 
14 


204 


Christian  Manliness . 


opportunities  like  these.  But  they  did  not  discern 
the  real  signs  of  the  times,  and  our  Lord  again  and 
again  reproached  them  for  their  ignorance  in  true 
moral  discernment. 

There  are  men  who  can  tell  all  about  times  and 
seasons  in  the  social,  political,  and  commercial 
worlds.  There  are  farmers  who  know  when  it  is 
time  to  sow  and  to  reap  ; there  are  merchants  who 
know  when  to  buy  and  when  to  sell  ; there  are 
those  who  know  when  to  buy  real  estate ; there  are 
a good  many  men  who  know  when  to  buy  real  es- 
tate at  the  lowest,  and  they  would  seem  to  have  an 
almost  divinely  gifted  capacity  of  knowing  when  to 
sell  it  at  the  highest.  I have  in  mind  a preacher 
(it  was  no  fault  of  his)  who  made  money  by  buying 
and  selling  real  estate.  The  truth  of  it  was  that  he 
was  originally  intended  to  be  a money-maker,  and 
he  could  not  help  buying  property  when  it  was  low 
and  selling  it  when  it  was  high.  There  are  men 
who  know  when  to  buy  “ long  ” and  when  to  buy 
“ short  ” in  the  market.  There  are  men  who  know 
what  the  political  drifts  are.  The  popular  voice 
is  so  strong  in  these  days  that  no  politician  any 
more  pretends  to  tell  the  people  what  they  ought 
to  do.  The  science  of  politics  is  reduced  to  find- 
ing out  what  the  people  are  going  to  have  done, 
and  then  making  haste  to  get  on  that  side  of 
the  fence.  There  are  many  men  skilled  to  dis- 
cern the  force  and  direction  of  political  drifts  and 
currents. 

But  when,  in  the  realm  of  moral  activity,  there 


The  Moral  Harvest . 


205 


be  those  who  maintain  that  there  are  times  and  sea- 
sons, that  there  is  a time  to  sow  and  a time  to  reap  ; 
that  there  are  times  for  ingatherings  and  times  for 
aggression,  there  be  some  who  say,  “ O no,  not  in 
religion  ; in  religion  all  goes  along  regularly ; in  re- 
ligion every  thing  must  be  smooth ; in  religion 
there  is  to  be  no  sudden  influx  of  people  ; in  relig- 
ion there  must  be  no  waves  of  excitement,  no  sea- 
sons of  great  interest ; in  religion  all  must  be  quiet 
and  orderly.,,  The  result  of  which  is  that  churches 
are  now  waiting  in  some  mysterious  way  for  God  to 
go  to  these  people  that  are  without  hope  and  with- 
out righteousness  and  without  love,  and  compel 
them  to  embrace  the  religious  life.  There  are  times 
and  seasons  in  religion  ; there  are  times  when  the 
harvests  are  ripe.  You  may  be  surprised  at  the 
statement,  you  may  be  disposed  to  resent  it,  but 
there  are  preachers  who  know  more  about  signs  and 
indications  in  the  moral  realm  than  any  other  man 
in  the  Church.  I assert  for  the  ministers  of  Christ, 
where  they  are  sincere  and  earnest,  a superior  ca- 
pacity to  detect  and  discern  such  drifts,  such  ten- 
dencies, such  signs.  I would  be  regarded  as  an 
impertinent  meddler  should  I go  into  the  counting- 
room  of  any  man  in  this  church  and  tell  him  when 
to  buy  and  sell.  He  would  justly  tell  me  that  he 
had  mastered  his  business,  that  he  had  been  appren- 
ticed to  it  for  years,  and  understood  its  secrets  and 
knew  when  to  buy  and  sell.  And  so  I affirm  that 
where  a preacher’s  heart  is  wholly  in  this  matter, 
where  he  gives  himself  to  the  service  of  religion  with 


206 


Christian  Manliness . 


hearty  and  entire  devotion,  the  judgment  of  the 
average  faithful  pastor  concerning  the  spiritual  phe- 
nomena is  truer  than  that  of  any  other  man  in  the 
community.  Jesus  knew  better  than  the  disciples, 
better  than  the  world,  when  the  harvest  was  ripe; 
and  so  if  one  will  devote  his  life  to  the  study  of 
spiritual  phenomena  he  can  foretell  spiritual  results 
with  surprising  prescience. 

I remark  again,  that  we  should  closely  inquire 
into  the  causes  of  that  weakness  of  spiritual  vision 
by  which  we  either  dimly  see,  or  do  not  see  at  all, 
the  whiteness  of  religious  harvest  fields.  It  was 
important,  indeed,  that  these  disciples  should  know 
why  it  was  that  Jesus  saw  what  they  did  not  see. 
They  saw  barley  fields ; he  saw  the  field  of  the 
world.  They  had  meat  in  their  baskets,  and  he  saw 
the  hunger  of  the  human  spirit.  There  was  some 
ground  for  the  difference  between  them — what  was 
it?  Was  the  fault  in  the  moral  opaqueness  of  the 
disciples,  or  in  the  fact  that  after  all  there  was  no 
harvest  field  ready  for  the  sickle?  Jesus  saw  a har- 
vest field  ; they  did  not  see  it.  Why  did  not  they 
see  it  ? 

The  first  reason  was  that  they  were  narrow  and 
bigoted.  “The  Jews  have  no  dealing  with  the  Sa- 
maritans.” If  Jesus  had  not  been  with  them,  and 
they  had  reached  the  well,  and  this  woman  of  Sama- 
ria had  come  where  they  were,  they  would  have 
gathered  up  their  holy  skirts  and  moved  off  as 
though  she  was  a foul  and  accursed  thing;  they 
would  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  her.  They 


The  Moral  Harvest . 207 

were  more  anxious  about  food  for  their  bodies  than 
food  for  such  souls. 

Nor  is  this  all.  They  were  proud.  This  woman 
— who  is  she?  This  woman  that  has  had  five  hus- 
bands, and  is  now  living  in  a loose  way  with  a man 
who  is  not  her  husband — shall  we  speak  to  her,  or 
tarry  with  her?  Certainly  not!  That  was  their 
spirit. 

Not  only  so,  but  it  was  a spirit  of  selfishness. 
They  thought:  “ We  have  the  Master  to  ourselves, 
and  we  will  keep  him  ; John  shall  be  secretary  of 
state,  James  shall  be  secretary  of  war,  and  Peter 
shall  be  prime  minister  of  the  new  kingdom.  Do 
you  suppose  we  will  share  the  Messiah  with  this  low 
woman?”  They  had  the  spirit  of  monopoly,  the 
spirit  of  accursed  caste,  the  most  devilish  spirit  that 
ever  escaped  from  the  nether  kingdom.  No  won- 
der men  possessed  of  such  a spirit  could  see  no  fields 
ready  for  the  harvest. 

Friends,  weakness  of  vision  does  not  always  argue 
that  there  is  nothing  to  see.  Weakness  of  vision 
may  argue  the  decaying  power  of  the  orb  of  vision. 
I go  to  a saloon,  I go  to  a race-course,  I go  to  some 
gambling  hell,  and  I take  a man  that  lives  in  his 
eyes  and  ears,  and  especially  in  his  mouth  and  stom- 
ach. He  has  been  living  there  for  many  years; 
food  and  drink,  and  every  thing  that  pampers  and 
gratifies  his  body,  have  made  up  his  life.  I say  to 
him,  “ Come  with  me,  and  I will  show  you  the  higher 
joys  and  deeper  pleasures  of  the  intellect,  the  heart, 
the  conscience,”  and  I take  him  to  the  schools,  or 


208 


Christian  Manliness . 


the  home  circle,  or  to  the  church,  where  people  live 
in  a higher  realm  of  being;  where  they  live  in  books, 
in  ideas,  in  pictures,  and  in  music ; where  they  live 
in  the  holy  loves  of  the  family,  of  purity,  of  right- 
eousness, live  unselfishly,  self  sacrificingly — and  I say 
to  him,  “ Look  at  these  things.”  And  he  says,  “ I 
don't  see  any  thing  so  very  attractive  about  all  this. 
I call  it  stale,  fiat,  insipid.  Do  you  ever  go  to  a 
race?  Did  you  ever  hear  the  glasses  clink  in  the 
bar-room  ? Did  you  ever  drink  to  a man’s  health  ? 
That  is  poor  stuff  there — looking  at  pictures,  singing 
hymns,  and  reading  books.”  To  him  it  is  tame 
and  fiat.  Why?  Because  there  are  no  pure  pleas- 
ures here  ? No  ; but  because  he  has  no  eyes  to  see. 
And  why  is  it  that  so  many  do  not  see  the  harvest 
fields  in  the  world  ? Because  they  have  no  eyes  to 
see  guilt  and  moral  misery  ; because  they  have  noth- 
ing that  enables  them  to  touch  with  the  skillful  tact 
of  love  the  guilty,  frail,  and  breaking  hearts  that 
long  have  waited  for  the  light  and  love  of  God  ! 

The  spirit  of  Jesus,  by  which  he  was  enabled  to 
see  these  harvest  fields,  is  to  be  had  only  by  those 
who  obey  his  laws  and  enter  into  his  spirit.  Now 
let  us  take  this  scene  and  break  it  up  into  its  parts, 
in  order  that  we  may  learn  why  Jesus  saw 
what  the  disciples  did  not  see.  The  first  thing 
he  saw  was  that  here  was  an  opportunity  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  one  woman.  Well,  many 
preachers  of  the  present  time  would  not  have 
accepted  the  opportunity.  The  disciples  would 
not  have  accepted  it.  That  was  a strange  pul- 


The  Moral  Harvest . 


209 


pit  — the  stones  of  Jacob’s  well  — and  what  an 
unusual  audience  it  was:  one  person,  and  she  a 
woman  ! To  be  a woman  even  now  implies  some 
disadvantages  ; but  then  to  be  a woman  was  to  be — 
a good  deal  less  than  a man  ! This  was  an  heret- 
ical woman  ; this  was  an  immoral  woman  ; and  yet, 
standing  on  the  stones^  of  Jacob’s  well,  with  one 
auditor,  and  she  a heretic,  Jesus  preached  one  of 
the  greatest  sermons  he  ever  preached,  and 
announced  some  of  the  most  wonderful  of  his 
teachings.  We  would  not  have  done  it,  many  of 
us  ; we  would  have  waited  for  a larger  and  a more 
respectable  audience  ; we  would  have  waited  to 
preach  such  a sermon  in  some  great  place ; but 
Jesus  had  in  him  the  spirit  that  never  despised  any 
opportunity  to  preach  or  to  do  good. 

In  the  next  place,  he  had  the  secret  of  reverent 
courage.  I do  not  mean  the  courage  that  is  con- 
founded with  audacity  or  recklessness,  I mean 
reverent  courage,  courage  that  could  fearlessly  face 
and  sternly  rebuke  the  traditional  spirit  that 
remorselesly  crushed  human  hearts.  He  would 
not  take  away  one  jot  or  tittle  of  the  law,  but  all 
the  traditions  that  men  had  invented  and  tacked  on 
to  the  law — he  denounced  them,  and  broke  away 
from  them,  as  here.  He  talked  to  a woman  to 
whom  no  Jewish  priest  would  have  dared  to  have 
said  a word. 

He  had  the  spirit  of  sympathy ; a gift,  I some- 
times fear,  which  is  rapidly  dying  out  of  the  Church. 
He  knew  the  ache  at  this  woman’s  heart,  and  there 


210 


Christian  Manliness . 


are  few  people  any  more  who  even  pretend  to  know 
it.  He  knew  the  visions  that  came  to  her  of  her 
lost  innocence  and  purity ; he  knew  that  she 
thought  of  the  time  when  she  was  a girl  as  pure  as 
. the  flowers  that  grew  by  the  side  of  the  paths  along 
which  she  walked,  or  as  pure  as  the  heaven  into 
which  she  looked.  There  are  those  who  seem  to 
deny  that  there  are  any  aches  in  the  hearts  of  those 
who  are  far  from  goodness  and  purity.  Sunday  after 
Sunday,  men  and  women  enter  the  doors  of  our 
churches  and  from  their  faces  or  words  you  would 
not  know  the  heavy  burdens  they  carry;  and  how 
few  there  be  who  know  that  these  souls  need  help 
and  kindness  and  sympathy ! 

The  spirit  of  Jesus,  once  more,  was  the  spirit  of 
open  communion  with  the  Father!  “ I have  meat 
to  eat  that  ye  know  not  of.”  He  was  thinking  of 
food  for  his  spirit,  they  of  food  for  their  bodies  ; 
he  was  thinking  of  his  Father,  “I  must  finish  the 
work  my  Father  sent  me  to  do  ; ” and  they  were 
thinking  how  long  it  would  be  until  the  reapers 
would  cut  down  the  barley.  So  it  was  that  Jesus, 
living  in  open  communion  with  his  Father,  saw 
what  was  hidden  from  his  disciples. 

Whoever  will  take  life’s  humblest  opportunities 
and  be  faithful  to  them,  whoever  will  have  reverent 
courage,  the  courage  that  takes  off  the  hat  before 
qualities  and  keeps  it  on  in  the  presence  of  mere 
semblances,  a courage  that  could  strike  down 
tradition  and  lift  up  a guilty  woman,  the  spirit 
that  could  question  tradition  and  die  for  purity — 


The  Moral  Harvest . 


2 1 1 


whoever  has  this  spirit,  and  the  spirit  of  open  com- 
munion with  God,  will  see  the  white  harvest  fields 
of  the  world.  Lift  up  your  eyes  and  look  upon 
them  ! Lift  up  your  eyes  and  look  upon  the  fields 
covered  by  the  words  honest  doubt . Do  you  know 
that  there  is  such  a thing  as  honest  doubt?  Do  you 
know  that  there  are  a great  many  aching  hearts  now 
in  the  condition  of  honest  doubters?  You  think 
not.  When  an  aged  woman  tells  me,  as  she  washes 
and  irons  in  the  fourth  story  of  a tenement  house, 
in  a small  room  as  hot  as  a furnace,  that  her  son-in- 
law has  amassed  a large  fortune,  and  is  a member 
of  a great  church,  and  her  daughter  has  thousands 
at  her  disposal,  I can  know  something  about  why 
she  should  ask,  “ Where  is  He  whom  I have  served 
from  my  earliest  childhood  ? ” That  is  not  a question 
that  infidels  ask;  that  is  a question  forced  out  of  a 
suffering  human  heart  by  the  hardness  of  life’s  lot. 
She  is  not  alone  in  such  questionings. 

Lift  up  your  eyes  and  look  upon  the  fields  that 
are  indicated  by  the  words  pain  and  suffering. 
Have  you  any  idea  how  much  pain  and  suffering 
there  is  in  the  world  that  needs  the  message  of  the 
Gospel  ? Have  you  ever,  when  your  nerves  throbbed 
with  pain,  have  you  ever,  when  your  system  was  in 
a fierce  fire  of  fever,  have  you  ever  thought  then, 
not  of  your  own  present  personal  suffering,  but  of 
the  great  world’s  agony  ? Do  you  know  any  thing  of 
what  the  great  Garfield  once  called  “the  undiscovered 
mystery  of  pain  ? ” and  do  you  have  any  pity  at  all 
for  those  who  live  lives  of  pain  and  suffering? 


212 


Christian  Manliness. 


Lift  up  your  eyes  and  look  upon  the  field  repre- 
sented by  guilt,  by  moral  waste,  wretchedness,  and 
misery.  Do  you  ever  think  of  that  field?  How 
many  young  men  are  there,  do  you  suppose,  in 
New  York  and  Brooklyn,  who  are  being  wasted  and 
will  be  ruined  before  the  middle  of  next  April? 
Not  less  than  ten  thousand ! A close  observer 
estimates  that  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  with  the 
out-lying  towns,  constitute  the  moral  maelstrom 
which  swallows  up  ten  thousand  unwary  youths 
every  year.  Dead  from  rum,  dead  from  lust,  dead 
from  gambling,  dead  by  the  pistol,  dead  by  the 
plunge  into  the  dark  river!  Do  you  see  them  ? Do 
you  see  the  fields  that  are  white  already  unto  the 
harvest  ? Do  you  still  ask  me  to  be  calm,  do  you 
still  ask  me  to  be  decorous  and  quiet,  do  you  still 
ask  me  to  be  content  with  the  moral  indifference  I 
see  about  me  ? I might  if  I did  not  partially  see 
the  field  ; but  He  who  sat,  weary,  on  the  stones  of 
Jacob’s  well  has  so  far  led  me  into  his  spirit  that  I 
see  somewhat  of  the  need  of  the  world — the  hunger 
of  man’s  spirit  for  God,  the  yearning  of  the  human 
heart  for  the  divine  love.  I seem  to  see  the  feet 
that  are  slipping,  slipping,  slipping  ! I seem  to  hear 
the  voices  of  those  that  cry  out,  “ No  man  careth 
for  my  soul!”  I seem  to  see  and  to  be  touched 
with  a feeling  of  sympathy  for  those  whose  hearts 
ache  over  a lost  purity  ! 

O that  God  would  give  so  much  of  his  Spirit 
to  all  his  Churches,  and  so  spur  them  to  prayer,  and 
faith,  and  work,  and  love,  that  if  a woman  of 


The  Moral  Harvest . 


213 


Samaria  should  come  down  the  broad  aisle  of  our 
most  wealthy  and  aristocratic  church  all  hearts 
would  be  melted  at  the  sight  of  the  woman’s 
penitence!  And  then,  after  a hundred  years,  would 
that  God  might  raise  up  a Church  divine  enough, 
and  Christ-like  enough,  not  to  wait  until  such  came 
down  the  aisle,  but  would  seek  them  out,  and  bring 
them  to  the  healing  and  benignant  Christ ! O 
that  we  all  might  henceforth  enter  into  the  “ un- 
hasting, unresting’’  activity  of  Jesus,  in  which  is 
the  peace  and  blessedness  and  power  of  God ! 


214 


Christian  Manliness . 


THE  GREATNESS  OF  JESUS. 

And  the  Jews  marveled,  saying,  How  knoweth  this  man  Otters, 
having  never  learned?  Jesus  answered  them,  and  said,  My  doc- 
trine is  not  mine,  but  his  that  sent  me.  If  any  man  will  do  his 
will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether 
I speak  of  myself. — John  vii,  15-17. 

For  such  a high-priest  became  us,  who  is  holy,  harmless,  unde- 
filed, separate  from  sinners,  and  made  higher  than  the  heavens. — 
Heb.  vii,  26. 

The  intellectual  doubter  of  the  nineteenth  cent- 
ury is  accustomed  to  speak  of  Jesus  in  terms  of 
high  laudation.  He  extols  his  singular  purity  of 
character,  his  gentleness  and  graciousness  of  de- 
meanor, his  kindness  and  patience  and  forbearance 
to  those  who  opposed  themselves,  his  tender  sym- 
pathy with  the  poor,  the  weak,  the  wronged,  and 
the  suffering,  his  devoted,  disinterested  life,  and  the 
meekness  and  mercifulness  of  the  spirit  in  which  he 
met  his  death.  He  is  spoken  of  as  “the  greatest 
Hebrew,”  yea,  as  “ the  greatest  man  ” who  has  ever 
appeared  in  the  entire  history  of  the  world;  he  was 
a great  reformer,  a great  religious  teacher,  a pro- 
found moral  philosopher.  The  human  race  is  vastly, 
yea,  immeasurably,  indebted  to  him  ; he  has  inspired 
and  stimulated  and  directed  the  progress,  the  moral 
progress  especially,  of  mankind,  as  no  other  char- 
acter known  to  us  ; his  contributions  to  human  vir- 
tue, and  hence  to  human  happiness,  have  been 


The  Greatness  of  Jesus . 


215 


greater  than  those  of  any  other  single  member  of 
the  race.  These  are  the  expressions  frequently 
found  on  the  lips  of  those  who  preserve  either  a 
neutral  or  a hostile  attitude  to  the  divine  claims  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Our  Lord  was  once  buried  in  a rock- 
tomb ; he  is  in  danger  now  of  being  buried  in  a 
grave  of  flowers  — beautiful  and  fragrant  flowers 
they  are,  but  they  have  been  secretly  sprinkled  with 
concealed  deadly  poison.  We  who  own  him  as  the 
Master  of  our  souls,  as  the  supreme  Lord  of  our 
worship,  and  love,  and  duty,  and  life,  are  not  thus 
tamely  to  surrender  him  to  his  foes.  He  is  more  than 
a great  Hebrew,  more  than  an  inspired  prophet, 
more  than  an  acute  and  eminent  religious  reformer, 
more  than  a profound  moral  philosopher,  more  than 
a highly  gifted  moral  genius — “ He  is  over  all,  God 
blessed  for  evermore ! ” 

In  seeking  to-night  to  ascertain  who  and  what  he 
was,  in  a calm  and  reverent  and  earnest  way,  I 
assume  the  fewest  possible  number  of  universally 
conceded  facts.  I assume  that  there  was  born  in 
Palestine,  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  the 
person  we  call  Jesus;  that  his  reputed  parents  were 
plain,  ordinary,  humble  Jewish  folk,  without  either 
genius  or  rank  or  wealth ; that  he  spent  his  youth 
and  grew  to  manhood  in  the  contemned  and  de- 
graded province  of  Galilee  ; that  at  the  age  of  thirty 
or  thereabout  he  publicly  assumed  the  functions  of 
a religious  teacher;  that  four  short  sketches  of  his 
life  were  written  either  by  men  who  companied  with 
him  from  the  beginning  or  who  had  access  to  original 


2l6 


Christian  Manliness . 


sources  of  information  ; that  these  sketches  contain 
a reliable  account  of  what  he  said,  of  how  he  lived, 
of  the  substance  of  his  teaching,  of  what  manner  of 
man  he  was;  that  the  leaders  of  the  Jewish  people 
believed  him  to  be  a disturbing,  dangerous,  and  rev- 
olutionary teacher,  and  that,  prompted  by  the  mixed 
motives  of  religious  zeal,  selfishness,  and  envy,  they 
brought  about  his  death  under  the  procuratorship 
of  Pontius  Pilate;  and  that  the  Christian  religion, 
with  all  that  these  great  words  imply,  sprang  from 
what  he  said  and  did  and  was.  I do  not,  for  the 
purposes  of  this  hour,  take  for  granted  the  reality 
of  any  of  the  supernatural  works  that  the  writers 
of  these  lives  ascribe  to  him.  I simply  assume  that 
he  appeared,  acted,  and  taught  in  substance  as  these 
lives  record  ; and  on  this  strong  basis  of  solid  fact, 
now  conceded  by  all  competent  scholars  and  think- 
ers, I ask  you  candidly  and  dispassionately  to  study 
with  me  his  intellectual  and  moral  greatness,  and 
see  if  they  do  not  significantly  point  with  great, 
ever-increasing,  and  at  last  convincing  force  to  his 
superhumanity  in  nature  and  origin. 

The  intellectual  greatness  of  Jesus  will  appear  if 
we  consider  his  entire  independence  of  circum- 
stances. Intellectual  greatness  is  not  an  uncaused 
phenomenon.  To  beings  like  ourselves,  with  our 
faculties  and  range  of  vision,  whatever/.?  must  come 
from  something  that  has  been.  We  are  not  living 
in  a blind,  an  orderless,  a causeless  universe.  It  is 
the  latest  dictum  of  science  itself  that  for  every 
phenomenon  there  must  be  some  adequate  explana- 


The  Greatness  of  Jesus . 


217 


ation — not  only  that  every  effect  must  have  a cause, 
but  that  every  effect  must  have  a rational  and  com- 
petent cause.  Intellectual  facts  or  phenomena  do 
not  constitute  an  exception  to  this  general  rule. 
They,  too,  are  in  the  vise  of  law.  Intellectual  power 
has  its  conditions,  its  necessary  antecedents.  You 
are  aware  that  a certain  class  of  scholars  have  been 
somewhat  puzzled  concerning  the  intellectual  great- 
ness of  Shakespeare,  for  there  is  exhibited  in  his 
tragedies  and  comedies  and  historical  dramas  not 
only  marvelous  mental  acuteness  and  fertility,  not 
only  an  accurate  and  profound  knowledge  of  human 
nature,  but  no  inconsiderable  amount  of  what  we 
technically  style  learning.  How,  now,  did  he  ob- 
tain this  knowledge?  The  earlier  part  of  Shakes- 
peare’s life  is  wrapped  in  comparative  obscurity  ; 
our  information  concerning  that  period  is  not  as 
ample  as  could  be  desired,  and  those  who  are  dis- 
satisfied with  the  theory  of  the  Shakesperean  author- 
ship of  the  works  usually  attributed  to  him  assign 
as  the  reason  for  their  objection  that  no  explanation 
can  be  given  of  his  remarkable  historical  knowledge, 
or  any  time  specified  when  he  could  have  acquired 
the  large  general  information  unquestionably  ex- 
hibited in  his  dramas  and  tragedies.  Lord  Bacon 
had  the  time  and  the  opportunities  necessary  to  ac- 
quire this  information,  and  he  is  the  only  contem- 
porary of  Shakespeare  who  seems  to  have  possessed 
the  needed  original  intellectual  qualifications ; and 
the  hypothesis  of  this  class  of  reasoners  is  that  Bacon 
is  the  author  of  the  so-called  Shakesperean  plays. 


218 


Christian  Manliness , 


The  question  is  precisely  what  it  was  with  the  Jews 
in  our  Lord's  day.  “ How  knoweth  this  man  let- 
ters, having  never  learned  ? ” Mark  well  the  cir- 
cumstances of  Jesus,  how  confining  and  dulling  and 
deadening  they  were.  There  was  nothing  in  his 
immediate  family  to  predict  intellectual  greatness ; 
there  was  nothing  in  his  early  occupation  that  would 
naturally  lead  to  intellectual  greatness;  his  native 
country  was  not  an  intellectual  country,  such  as 
Greece;  he  never  attended  any  famous  school;  he 
never  traveled  outside  of  Palestine,  and  therefore 
he  could  not  know  the  broadening,  liberalizing,  edu- 
cating effects  of  foreign  travel ; whatever  scholastic 
training  he  received  must  have  been  in  the  school 
connected  with  the  synagogue,  in  the  village  of 
Nazareth.  We  are  sufficiently  familiar  with  the 
general  spirit  of  these  schools,  and  of  the  eminent 
teachers  of  his  time,  to  know  that,  so  far  from  such 
instruction  having  a tendency  to  lead  forth  and 
strengthen  the  intellectual  faculties,  the  contrary 
was  the  truth  : that  these  schools  and  teachers  were 
occupied  with  small  and  petty  questions  of  days, 
washings,  tithes,  slavish  traditions,  and  various  op- 
pressive legalisms,  and  that  they  omitted  the  weight- 
ier matters  of  the  law,  such  as  justice  and  judgment, 
morality  and  truth.  Such  were  the  surroundings  of 
Jesus,  and  yet  it  is  freely  confessed  by  all  men  that 
he  rose  superior  to  the  dwarfing  and  deadening 
power  of  these  circumstances;  that  alike  in  his  per- 
sonal spirit  and  in  the  scope  and  substance  of  his 
teaching  he  was  unlike  any  rabbi  who  might  have 


The  Greatness  of  Jesus . 219 

taught  him  ; utterly  unlike  his  countrymen  ; that 
he  was  conspicuously  free  from  any  of  the  influ- 
ences that  must  have  gathered  about  him  during 
his  boyhood  and  youth  in  the  province  of  Galilee. 

Not  only  so,  but  he  showed  himself  to  be  absolute- 
ly above  the  power  of  circumstances.  He  exhibited 
that  high  and  peculiar  kind  of  intellectual  greatness 
which  shows  its  presence  and  power  by  the  removal 
of  obstacles,  by  the  mastery  of  circumstances,  by 
the  conquest  of  difficulties.  One  who  has  had  such 
intellectual  opportunities  as  were  afforded  the  late 
Mr.  Sumner  is  expected  to  achieve  intellectual  emi- 
nence; and  the  reason  why,  in  the  future  history 
of  this  country,  it  will  be  confessed  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  a greater  man  than  Mr.  Sumner  is 
that  with  no  such  opportunities  as  the  Massachu- 
setts senator,  either  in  the  public  school,  or  the 
academy,  or  the  university,  or  by  foreign  travel,  or 
by  association  with  the  scholarly  and  the  cultured, 
he  was  found,  when  called  to  a perilous  post  in  a 
great  national  crisis,  to  be  greater  with  slight  op- 
portunities than  Mr.  Sumner  with  ample  and  splen- 
did opportunities.  It  is  the  presence  in  Jesus  of 
this  form  of  intellectual  greatness,  to  a degree  abso- 
lutely unique  and  unparalleled,  which  more  and 
more  attracts  the  attention  of  thoughtful  men  in 
their  study  of  the  vast  influence  which  he  has  hith- 
erto exercised,  and  which  he  seems  to  continue  to 
exercise,  on  the  thought  and  conduct  of  the  best 
and  strongest  men  of  the  race. 

In  the  second  place,  Jesus  pierced  at  once  to  the 
15 


220 


Christian  Manliness . 


heart  of  things,  and  saw  the  truth  as  in  open  vision. 
There  are  two  ways  of  arriving  at  truth — by  logic 
and  by  insight  : by  reasoning  to  it,  and  by  divining 
it ; by  laboriously  plodding  after  it,  and  by  simply 
finding  it.  The  latter  is  one  of  the  great  character- 
istics of  genius.  The  presence  of  fruitful  genius  in 
any  great  department  of  human  thought  or  activity 
is  betokened  by  the  power  to  see  at  a glance  what 
other  men,  tardy-footed,  reach  by  slow  and  labori- 
ous processes.  Jesus  SAW  the  truth.  He  seldom 
argued  about  it ; he  seldom  reasoned  about  it. 
There  is  no  formal  argument  for  the  existence  of 
God,  for  the  obligatoriness  of  duty,  for  the  spiritual 
nature  and  destiny  of  man  in  the  preserved  dis- 
courses of  Jesus.  He  was  open  to  the  truth,  and 
the  truth  was  open  to  him.  He  found  it  by  seeing 
it;  he  simply  announced,  declared,  uttered  what 
he  saw,  and  there  is  not  a single  hint  or  suggestion 
anywhere  that  he  came  to  his  truth  by  any  dia- 
lectical method.  The  relation  of  logic  to  the  truth 
of  Jesus  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  technique  of 
music  to  the  singing  of  the  meadow  lark  on  a May 
morning.  To  the  religious  mind  there  is  much 
truth  in  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son — more  truth 
than  many  of  us  have  capacity'  as  yet  to  receive. 
But  there  is  no  major  premiss  in  it,  there  is  no 
minor  premiss,  there  is  no  formal  drawing  of  a con- 
clusion from  foregoing  premisses,  no  acute  dialec- 
tics. It  is  a picture ; a picture  of  what  the  heart  of 
a truly  loving  father  is  toward  a wayward,  guilty, 
and  repentant  son,  and  as  painted  by  Jesus  it  is  a 


The  Greatness  of  Jesus . 221 

picture  of  what  the  heart  of  God  perpetually  is  to 
all  his  wayward  children.  But  he  did  not  argue  it ; 
he  did  not  prove  it ; he  SAW  it  as  in  open  vision, 
and  then  painted  the  picture  in  a few  simple  words. 

The  quality  of  the  truth  thus  disclosed  by  Jesus 
needs  to  be  briefly  emphasized  in  passing.  I take 
two  examples  of  the  peculiar  and  lofty  quality  of 
the  truth  which  Jesus  saw  and  declared  : and,  first, 
Jesus  taught  that  the  reformation  of  society  is  al- 
ways to  proceed  by  the  divine  regeneration  of  the 
individual.  He  never,  indeed,  stated  it  in  that  pre- 
cise language.  I cannot  see  things  as  he  did ; I 
must  state  them  the  best  I can.  Nevertheless,  a 
patient  study  of  . the  New  Testament  without  bias 
and  without  prejudice  impresses  every  thoughtful 
and  reverent  man  with  this  truth,  that  Jesus  aimed 
at  the  reformation  of  society  by  the  regeneration  of 
the  individual.  I mean,  for  example,  that  he 
did  not  aim  at  the  reformation  of  society  by  the 
sudden  or  radical  change  of  any  institution.  The 
cruel  institution  of  slavery  was  cramping  men  then  ; 
the  social  state  of  woman  was  demoralizing  in  the 
extreme;  he  never  formally  considered  these  im- 
portant topics.  The  civil  laws  that  were  then  im- 
posed upon  the  conquered  nations  by  the  Romans 
were  crude,  partial,  at  times  sanguinary,  but  he 
made  no  proclamation  for  a reformation  of  the  laws. 
He  did  teach,  quietly,  constantly,  solemnly,  that 
each  individual  man,  by  the  pressure  upon  his  heart 
and  conscience  of  the  truth,  and  by  the  efficient  co- 
operation of  a spiritual  Power  outside  of  man,  should 


222 


Christian  Manliness . 


be  re-molded  and  re-fashioned  until  the  law  of  duty, 
as  interpreted  in  the  atmosphere  of  love,  should  be 
the  law  of  his  life.  As  you  improve  men  themselves, 
they  will  gradually  and  permanently  change  their 
institutions.  It  requires  no  argument  to  see  that 
if  you  make  right  men  they  will  fashion  for  them- 
selves right  institutions.  The  world’s  way  is  to  get 
right  institutions,  right  laws,  right  customs,  right 
methods  and  instruments,  hoping  that  with  these 
right  men  will  appear.  The  method  of  Jesus  was 
first  to  get  right  men,  and  then  through  them  a 
right  society,  and  so  at  last  a right  world  would 
come.  We  are  still  very  much  in  doubt  about  it, 
but  whenever  the  world  has  won  any  new  ground, 
and  kept  it,  the  secret  of  the  permanent  advance 
is  to  be  found  in  the  appearance  of  men  and  women 
who  confess  the  presence  in  their  hearts  of  the  re- 
generating Spirit. 

Another  illustration  of  the  quality  of  his  truth 
maybe  stated  in  this  language  : Jesus  declared  that 
love  was  the  supreme  purifying  agent  in  the  soul  of 
man.  He  did  not  teach  that  love  was  a purifying 
agent  he  did  not  teach  that  love  was  a powerful 
purifying  agent,  but  he  taught,  with  all  possible 
clearness  and  emphasis,  that  love  was  the  supreme, 
all-powerful,  purifying  agent  in  the  spirit  of  man. 
The  question  how  man’s  spirit  is  to  be  emancipated 
from  the  thrall  and  corruption  of  evil  passions  has 
ever  been  an  earnest  question  with  those  who  have 
been  given  to  ethical  thought.  The  Lord  answered 
the  question  again  and  again  by  declaring,  “ Thou 


The  Greatness  of  Jesus . 


223 


shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  mind,  and  soul,  and  strength,  and  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself.”  He  never  altered  his  teaching,  never 
diminished  it,  never  minified  it,  never  compromised 
it,  but  to  the  very  last  he  taught  that  the  complete 
moral  restoration  and  health  of  any  human  spirit 
was  to  proceed  under  the  inspiring  and  cleansing 
mastery  of  love,  and  that  for  love  there  was  no 
substitute  in  the  heavens  above  or  in  the  earth 
beneath.  We  are  afraid  to  believe  that ; modern 
society  does  not  even  profess  to  believe  it,  and  the 
Church,  which  does  not  profess  to  believe  it,  is  busily 
engaged  in  paring  it  down,  and  trying  to  accom- 
modate it  to  human  infirmity  and  prejudice.  I raise 
this  question  : How  would  you,  how  would  society, 
how  would  the  world,  restore  to  purity  a woman  lost 
to  it  ? The  first  answer  to  that  question  by  the  men 
of  the  world  is  that  no  actual  reformation  is  possible. 
I speak  advisedly:  it  is  the  deliberate  opinion  of  a 
majority  of  the  men  of  the  world  that  such  a woman 
is  incapable  of  moral  restoration.  What  we  call 
“ society,”  that  is,  “society”  in  Christian  countries, 
practically  declares  that  such  a creature  must  be  left 
to  perish  in  her  pollution.  There  is  no  possible 
cure  for  the  evil ; but  by  building  up  high  walls, 
and  walls  as  thick  as  high,  society  may  so  stigrriatize 
the  transgressor  as  to  leave  her  in  the  outer  darkness, 
without  hope  of  purity  and  peace.  The  man  who 
compassed  the  ruin  may  indeed  be  there  received, 
may  indeed  be  there  honored,  and  feted,  and  flat- 
tered, but  for  the  unhappy  victim  of  his  hellish 


224 


Christian  Manliness . 


lust  society  has  no  open  door.  The  man  of  penalties, 
whether  he  be  a natural  scientist,  or  an  austere 
agnostic,  or  a theologian  of  the  letter,  declares  that 
the  only  reformation  possible  in  such  a case  is 
by  a strict  infliction  of  the  law  of  penalty.  “ She 
has  sinned  ; she  must  now  suffer  the  inevitable  pen- 
alties of  her  sin.  Show  her  to  what  an  awful  end 
she  hastens  ; deter  her  by  these  terrors,  and  if  they 
will  not  alarm  her,  nothing  remains  but  the  leap  into 
the  sullen  river  at  night,  to  be  followed  by  the  un- 
known body  awaiting  identification  at  the  morgue. 
Show  her  that  not  only  in  this  life,  but  also  in 
the  life  to  come,  the  law  of  penalty  shall  pursue  and 
smite  and  destroy/’  Now,  suppose  there  could  be 
born  in  such  a creature  (I  do  not  say  that  such 
a thing  is  possible,  but  we  will  try  to  imagine  it), 
suppose  there  was  born  in  her  heart  a holy  love — I 
care  not  whether  it  be  for  man  or  woman,  so  that  in 
her  deepest  spiritual  nature  a genuine  overmaster- 
ing affection  for  some  pure  soul  is  born — is  there 
not  hope?  And  is  there  any  other  hope?  There 
was  such  a woman  once  in  a Galilean  town,  and  at 
a feast  where  the  rich  and  the  powerful  and  the 
learned  were,  came  the  sinful  and  the  fair,  and  the 
giver  of  the  feast  sneered  and  scorned,  and  the 
disciples  gathered  close  about  the  Lord,  fearful  lest 
he  might  be  compromised  as  she  stooped  and 
bowed  her  head,  and  rained  her  hot  tears  down  on 
his  unsandaled  feet,  and  loosed  the  long  tresses  of 
her  hair,  that  she  might  wipe  away  the  signs  of  her 
shame  and  penitence.  And  what  did  he  say  ? “ Her 


The  Greatness  of  Jesus . 


225 


sins,  which  are  many,  are  forgiven,  for  she  loved 
much.”  For  she  loved  much!  In  the  teaching  of 
Jesus,  love  is  the  prophecy  of  coming  purity,  light, 
and  peace  ! 

These  two  truths  are  universal ; they  will  always 
apply ; they  will  apply  under  a government  by 
aristocracy,  under  a government  by  monarchy, 
under  a government  by  democracy  ; they  will  apply 
in  the  frigid  zone,  where  it  is  difficult  to  baptize 
people  by  immersion,  and  they  will  apply  also  in 
the  torrid  zone,  where  immersion  is  the  natural 
mode  of  baptism  ; they  will  apply  where  the  genius 
of  the  people  would  lead  them  to  reject  Calvinism, 
and  they  will  apply  where  the  genius  of  the  people 
would  lead  them  to  reject  Arminianism.  These 
two  fundamental  truths  of  Jesus — that  the  reforma- 
tion of  society  is  to  proceed  by  the  regeneration  of 
the  individual,  and  that  in  the  restoration  of  a guilty 
soul  nothing  whitens  like  the  glowing  fires  of  love — 
apply  every-where,  apply  in  all  places  and  under  all 
circumstances,  apply  under  every  condition  known 
to  man.  We  need  to  fix  it  in  our  hearts  that  for 
this  race  on  this  globe  there  will  never  come  a time 
when  they  will  be  outworn  or  fall  into  desuetude. 
They  are  more  real  and  abiding  than  the  solid  bases 
of  the  everlasting  mountains.  The  Eternal  is  in 
them. 

The  intellectual  greatness  of  Jesus  will  appear  if 
we  consider  the  nature  of  the  work  he  outlined  for 
himself;  a work  so  unique,  elevated,  and  sublime 
that  it  could  be  clearly  conceived,  strongly  grasped, 


226 


Christian  Manliness . 


and  steadily  held  only  by  a supernatural  mind. 
What  was  that  work?  He  proposed  the  establish- 
ment on  the  earth,  by  the  operation  of  purely  moral 
forces,  of  a universal  spiritual  kingdom.  A universal 
spiritual  kingdom,  I say.  Men  had  dreamed  before 
his  time  of  universal  kingdoms.  The  thought  of 
a race  community  was  not  a new  thought  with  Jesus, 
nor  was  it  confined  to  that  part  of  the  world  alone  ; 
whether  consciously  or  unconsciously,  the  Baby- 
lonian kings  had  striven  for  a political  union  of  all 
kingdoms ; Alexander  the  Great  dreamed  of  polit- 
ical unity;  if  Julius  Caesar  did  not  distinctly  pro- 
pose a world  empire,  he  did  contemplate  such  an 
aggregation  of  the  various  political  units  as  should 
secure  the  political  hegemony  of  Rome ; if  Charle- 
magne did  not  dream  of  a universal  kingdom,  he 
did  dream  of  a union  of  men  in  a political  confeder- 
ation as  extensive  as  the  continent  of  Europe.  Men 
have  dreamed  of  an  intellectual  kingdom  that  should 
be  universal.  It  was  the  thought  of  Aristotle,  and 
it  is  the  thought  of  the  most  eminent  thinker  of 
our  time  on  philosophical  subjects,  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer,  who  has  for  the  dream  and  vision  of  his 
life  the  co-ordination  of  all  truth  into  one  vast  uni- 
versal and  harmonious  system  that  will  explain  all 
phenomena.  The  kingdom  of  Jesus  is  a spiritual 
kingdom  ; not  an  intellectual,  not  a political  king- 
dom, but  a kingdom  in  which  the  subjects  are  to 
be  the  conscious  children  of  God,  ruled  by  love,  puri- 
ity,  truth,  justice,  righteousness,  blossoming  into  high 
moral  and  spiritual  experiences.  It  was  to  be  the 


The  Greatness  of  Jesus . 


227 


reign  of  God,  as  some  one  has  strongly  said,  “ in 
men,  not  over  them.”  It  is  the  new  spiritual  reign 
by  which  all  men  are  to  be  re-molded  and  re-fashioned, 
created  anew  after  the  image  of  God.  It  is  the  final 
triumph  of  good  and  God  over  every  form  of  moral 
and  physical  evil.  It  is  to  be  universal  in  fact  and 
in  time;  it  is  to  embrace  all  men,  and  through  these 
men  all  institutions,  all  governments,  all  industries, 
all  literatures,  all  art,  all  policies,  all  traditions ; it 
is  to  be  universal  in  point  of  time — it  is  to  be  an 
ever-growing,  never-ending  kingdom.  Other  king- 
doms shall  wax  and  wane,  and  at  last  perish  from 
off  the  face  of  the  earth.  This  kingdom  shall  go 
on  forever  ; its  highest  glories,  its  most  magnificent 
victories,  are  reserved  for  a higher  life  and  a purely 
spiritual  sphere. 

This  kingdom  was  to  make  its  way  in  the  world 
by  the  operation  of  purely  moral  forces.  Its  King 
distinctly  repudiated  the  use  of  coercion  ; the  aid  of 
government  is  not  to  be  invoked.  “ Master,  shall 
we  call  down  fire  from  heaven  to  burn  them  up?” 
“ Ye  know  not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of!  ” 
“ Peter,  put  up  thy  sword.”  Not  by  any  physical 
force  is  this  kingdom  to  be  founded  or  finally  es« 
tablished.  How,  then  ? Be  good  ; let  your  light 
shine ; win  men  by  love ; serve  others’;  lose  your 
own  life ; serve  those  most  who  need  you  most  ; 
bow  yourself  down,  be  like  him,  wait,  be  patient ; 
the  times  and  the  seasons  are  his,  and  he  shall  yet 
be  all  in  all. 

What  a work!  How  petty  seem  the  projects  of 


228 


Christian  Manliness . 


Alexander  and  Napoleon  ! No  such  work  was  ever 
before  conceived  by  mortal  mind.  An  acute  Amer- 
ican thinker,  Horace  Bushnell,  tells  us  that  upon 
this  single  fact  in  Christ’s  life  a profound  German 
scholar,  Reinhard,  constructs  a most  powerful  and 
convincing  argument  for  the  supernaturalness  of 
Jesus.  He  went  into  a formal  review  of  all  the 
great  founders  of  states,  all  the  great  lawgivers,  all 
the  prophet-founders  of  religions,  all  the  philoso- 
phers, all  the  wise  kings,  and  found  as  a fact  that 
this  idea  of  Jesus  had  never  before  been  taken  up 
by  any  living  character  in  history.  And  yet,  at 
thirty  years  of  age,  it  is  the  easy  and  familiar  thought 
of  a Galilean  artisan  ; at  thirty  years  of  age,  with 
such  a thought  he  is  not  ostentatious  or  vain  ; nor 
does  he  parade  it,  as  geniuses  are  wont  to  exhibit 
their  intellectual  children.  Nor  was  he  in  haste. 
He  said  it  was  first  a “ seed  ” — yea,  the  smallest  of 
all  seeds  ; “ first  the  blade,  and  then  the  ear,  and 
after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.”  He  never  was 
ambitious  ; he  never  was  feverish  ; he  was  calm, 
quiet,  patient  with  this  great  thought. 

It  is  precisely  here  that  his  intellectual  greatness 
meets,  blends  with,  and  is  swallowed  up  by  his 
moral  greatness.  To  conceive  of  such  a thought  re- 
quires more' than  acuteness,  more  than  sagacity, 
more  than  training,  more  than  worldly  wisdom  ; it 
requires  a mind  of  a peculiar  moral  tone!  I may 
employ  a term  more  and  more  coming  into  use  and 
significance,  and  say  that  the  intellect  must  be  “ eth- 
icalized  ” before  it  can  see  such  visions,  or  dream 


The  Greatness  of  Jesus . 


229 


such  dreams,  or  think  such  thoughts.  No  one  could 
dream  of  this  kingdom  unless  he  believed  that  love 
was  mightier  than  penalty,  right  stronger  than 
force  ; the  thought  of  such  a kingdom  could  not  be 
believed  except  by  a heart  open  to  the  truth  of 
the  cross — that  is,  that  the  immeasurable  power  of 
God  is  to  be  sought  in  the  capacity  of  his  love  to 
suffer. 

The  great  sage  of  China,  Confucius,  toward  the 
close  of  his  long  and  illustrious  career,  said  one  day 
to  his  disciples,  as  they  gathered  about  him,  “ I sup- 
pose that  in  letters  I am  equal  to  other  men  ; but 
the  character  of  the  perfect  man,  carrying  out  in  his 
conduct  what  he  professes,  is  what  I have  not  yet 
attained  to.”  Did  Jesus  ever  speak  in  that  way? 
Did  he  ever  confess  lack  of  attainment?  Did  he 
ever  say  that  he  failed  to  realize  his  own  ideal  ? Did 
he  ever  acknowledge  that  he  failed  to  carry  out  in 
his  conduct  what  he  professed  in  his  words?  Where 
is  the  indication  that  he  ever  shrank  or  faltered  from 
the  solemn  declaration  of  his  absolute  sinlessness? 
He  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  men  of  his  time,  and 
said,  “ Which  of  you  convinceth  me  of  sin  ? ” Who 
has  convinced  him  of  sin?  Was  he  not  sinless? 
If  sin  touched  him,  how?  where?  Was  he  merci- 
less? Was  he  ambitious?  Was  he  selfish?  Was 
he  wickedly  angry  ? Was  he  not  just,  righteous,  and 
true?  Moreover,  when  did  he  need  to  spur  him- 
self to  duty?  When  was  it  necessary  for  him  to 
revive  his  flagging  spirit  in  its  love  of  righteousness  ? 
He  needed  to  sustain  his  body,  but  where  did  he 


230 


Christian  Manliness . 


begin  to  break  down  ethically?  If  he  spoke  a false 
word,  where  is  the  word?  If  he  exhibited  an  un- 
holy temper,  where  did  he  exhibit  it?  If  he  was 
selfish,  where  was  he  so?  If  he  asked  others  to  do 
what  he  did  not  fulfill  himself,  when  and  where  did 
he  ask  them  to  do  it  ? I appeal  to  his  enemies ! 
Have  they  ever  found  one  speck  of  moral  impurity, 
one  indication  of  selfishness,  one  single  act  of  willful- 
ness, one  slight  deviation  from  absolute  rectitude  ! If 
they  have,  his  perfect  holiness  is  gone,  and  the  King 
of  the  new  kingdom  is  dethroned,  for  he  built  his 
kingship  upon  the  deep  and  necessary  truth  that 
that  which  he  exacted  of  all  men  he  fulfilled  in  his 
own  conduct  and  life.  And  they  answer  not ! It 
is  neither  a Parker,  nor  a Strauss,  nor  a Renan,  nor 
even  an  Ingersoll  who  has  ever  attempted  to  con- 
vict him  of  disloyalty,  of  self-seeking,  of  impurity, 
for  he  is  holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate 
from  sinners.  How  happens  it,  then,  that  he  not 
only  appeared  as  the  custodian  of  this  great  and 
divine  idea,  but  that  he,  and  he  alone,  has  succeeded 
in  presenting  himself  to  men  as  the  pure,  radiant, 
spotless,  perfect  Being,  who  has  ever  appeared  in  the 
history  of  the  worlds? 

We  return  to  the  well-known  conditions  of  his 
life.  Consider  who  he  was  in  his  family,  his  work, 
his  social  and  intellectual  environment  ; consider 
where  he  lived  for  thirty  years,  consider  all  the  un- 
toward circumstances  of  his  early  life,  and  then  at- 
tempt to  account  for  his  mighty  work  and  being  by 
hypotheses  of  his  humanity ! Stand  now  in  his 


The  Greatness  of  Jesus . 


231 


presence  with  your  theories  of  a great  prophet,  a 
great  moral  genius,  a great  religious  reformer ! 
How  does  it  happen  that  such  a being,  under  such 
circumstances,  had  this  great,  supreme,  all  embrac- 
ing idea,  and  was  continuously  loyal  to  it?  How 
does  it  happen  that  from  the  carpenter’s  bench  in  a 
small  village,  in  a degraded  province  of  a despised 
country,  one  came  out  to  the  world  and  thralled — 
not  the  feeble  men,  not  the  weak  nations,  but  begin- 
ning with  Paul,  and  going  to  Greece  and  Rome,  he 
comes  down  the  centuries,  erecting  his  cross  every- 
where among  the  strong  and  robust  nations.  The 
torpid  and  decaying  nations  of  the  slumberous  East 
might  indeed  allow  him  to  pass  by,  but  how  are  we 
to  account  for  the  fact  that  the  aggressive,  conquer- 
ing, liberty-loving,  duty-serving  peoples  of  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe,  the  great  tribes  that  settled  the 
West,  the  great  Teutonic  stock  especially,  the  na- 
tions that  rule  the  world,  should  be  so  influenced 
by  his  life  and  love  and  righteousness  that  they 
should  worship  him  as  God  ? What  is  the  explana- 
tion ? 

The  answer  is  that  supernatural  thoughts  were 
natural  to  him,  because  he  was  a supernatural  be- 
ing; divine  ideas  were  familiar  to  him,  because 
he  was  divine ; he  was  sinless,  because  he  was  the 
Sinless  One  incarnate  ; he  was  calm,  patient,  confi- 
dent of  ultimate  victory,  because  he  was  the  Ancient 
of  Days,  whose  goings  forth  had  been  from  everlast- 
ing; because  in  his  right  hand  he  held  all  treasures 
of  time  ; because  he  surely  touched  all  secret  springs 


232 


Christian  Manliness . 


of  power  and  influence ; because  as  a map,  and  as  a 
picture,  the  ages  and  the  consummations  of  eter- 
nity were  open  before  him  ! “ And  the  Jews  mar- 

veled, saying,  How  knoweth  this  man  letters,  hav- 
ing never  learned?  Jesus  answered  them,  and 
said,  My  doctrine  is  not  mine,  but  his  that  sent 
me.  If  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of 
the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I 
speak  of  myself.”  “ Philip  saith  unto  him  ” (and 
we  all  say  it  with  Philip),  “ Lord,  show  us  the  Father, 
and  it  sufficeth  us.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Have  I 
been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not 
known  me,  Philip?  he  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen 
the  Father.”  And  so,  at  last  do  we  cry  out  with 
Thomas,  each  for  himself,  “ My  Lord  and  my 
God ! ” 


The  Call  of  Abraham. 


233 


THE  CALL  OF  ABRAHAM. 

Now  the  Lord  had  said  unto  Abram,  Get  thee  out  of  thy  country, 
and  from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  father’s  house,  unto  a land  that 
I will  show  thee  : and  I will  make  of  thee  a great  nation,  and  I will 
bless  thee,  and  make  thy  name  great  ; and  thou  shalt  be  a blessing: 
and  I will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and  curse  him  that  curseth 
thee : and  in  thee  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed. — Gen. 
xii,  1-3. 

THESE  words  describe,  in  its  divine  aspects  or  re- 
lations, one  of  the  most  noteworthy  and  significant 
events  in  the  world’s  history.  This  pivotal  historic 
fact  is  the  call  of  Abram  to  be  the  first  clear  wit- 
ness to  the  divine  unity,  the  Father  of  the  Jewish 
people,  and  the  Founder  of  the  Jewish  Church,  out 
of  which,  in  the  end,  the  Christian  Church  should 
spring  and  develop,  by  whose  agency  and  power  in 
turn  the  kingdom  of  God  among  men  should  at  last 
be  realized.  Truly,  then,  may  this  great  fact  be 
remarked  as  one  of  the  pivotal  points  of  Old  World 
history.  The  purely  temporal  or  secular  side  of 
this  transaction  carries  in  it  nothing  extraordinary 
or  unique.  It  relates  how  Terah,  the  father  of 
Abraham,  started  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  with 
his  entire  family,  to  settle  anew  in  the  land  of 
Canaan.  Even  then,  it  seems,  the  star  of  empire 
was  beginning  to  wend  its  way  westward.  The 
first  considerable  stage  of  their  journey  brought 
them  as  far  as  Haran,  between  the  Tigris  and  Eu- 


234 


Christian  Manliness . 


phrates  rivers,  on  the  southern,  or  rather  south- 
western, slope  of  the  Armenian  Mountains,  where 
Terah  died.  Then  Abraham,  inheriting  the  chief- 
tainship of  the  tribe,  and  so  the  governance  of  the 
family,  takes  up  and  carries  onward  to  a successful 
completion  the  unfulfilled  purpose  of  his  father. 
With  Sarah,  his  wife,  and  Lot,  his  nephew,  together 
with  the  slaves  which  they  had  gotten,  and  the  sub- 
stance which  they  had  gathered,  he  journeyed  to 
the  land  of  Canaan,  entering  it  from  the  north,  by 
way  of  Damascus.  No  intimation  is  anywhere 
given  that  it  was  in  obedience  to  a divine  call  that 
Terah  set  out  on  the  migration  to  Canaan.  In  his 
movement  we  see  or  hear  of  no  higher  impelling 
force  than  the  natural  migratory  instinct  of  the  an- 
cient Semitic  chieftains.  He  may  have  thought  the 
land  freer,  the  ranges  for  his  flocks  wider  and  safer, 
the  pasturage  richer,  and  the  water  more  plentiful, 
than  in  his  native  Mesopotamia.  Not  so  with  Abra- 
ham. The  original  purpose  of  his  father  doubtless 
had  its  effect  upon  his  mind,  but  he  heard  also  the 
voice  of  the  heavenly  Father,  the  solemn  summons 
of  Almighty  God,  saying,  “ Get  thee  out  of  thy 
country,  and  from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  fath- 
er’s house,  unto  a land  that  I will  show  thee:  and  I 
will  make  of  thee  a great  nation,  and  I will  bless 
thee,  and  make  thy  name  great  ; and  thou  shalt  be 
a blessing:  and  I will  bless  them  that  bless  thee, 
and  curse  him  that  curseth  thee  : and  in  thee  shall 
all  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed.”  We  have  for 
our  study  this  evening,  “ The  Call  of  Abraham,” 


The  Call  of  Abraham . 235 

constituting,  as  it  does,  a pivotal  point  of  Old 
World  history. 

1.  Let  us  remark,  in  the  beginning,  its  rich  and 
vast  historical  significance.  As  we  hastily  glance 
at  this  Semitic  chieftain  yonder,  there  may  not  be 
much  calculated  to  arouse  our  attention,  or  pro- 
foundly impress  the  historic  imagination.  Never- 
theless, he  is  one  of  the  dozen  or  two  really  great 
and  potent  men  in  the  whole  history  of  the  race. 
He  is  the  father  of  the  Jewish  people.  As  we  stand 
and  watch  this  Eastern  caravan  journeying  west- 
ward to  Palestine,  let  us  not  forget  that  we  are  in 
the  presence  of  the  beginnings  of  Jewish  history  ! 
There  is  always  something  solemn,  to  a reflecting 
mind,  in  the  beginning  of  a single  human  life,  how- 
ever humble  and  obscure  that  life  may  seem  to  our 
imperfect  vision.  How  vastly  is  that  solemnity 
deepened  and  augmented  when  we  stand  by  the 
cradle  of  a mighty  people  ! 

How  real,  and  simple,  and  natural  is  this  national 
beginning.  Contrast  it  with  the  grotesque  and  fab- 
ulous legends  of  gods  and  goddesses,  enveloping 
the  early  records  of  other  ancient  peoples,  as  Egypt, 
Assyria,  Babylon,  Persia,  Greece,  and  Rome.  Abra- 
ham is  a man  ; simply  and  truly  a man  ; pretending 
to  nothing  more;  one  like  his  brethren  in  actual 
identity  of  nature;  a friend  of  God,  indeed,  but  not 
a god,  and  making  no  pretension  to  superhuman 
claims. 

I have  called  him  the  father  of  the  JEWISH  peo- 
ple ! And  what  a people ! What  a history  was 
16 


236 


Christian  Manliness . 


then  beginning!  The  modern  Jew  may  justly  boast 
of  the  most  ancient  and  distinguished  lineage  of  any 
man  on  the  earth  ! We  are  accustomed  to  think  of 
the  Papacy  as  an  antique  institution,  and  yet  fourteen 
hundred  years  before  the  time  of  the  great  Gregory 
VII.,  Elijah  the  Tishbite,  a prophet  of  Israel,  was 
rebuking  the  apostate  Ahab,  and  confronting  the 
priesthood  of  Baal ! We  speak  of  Herodotus  as  the 
Father  of  History,  but  five  hundred  years  before  he 
began  to  collect  the  materials  of  his  famous  work 
David  had  touched  his  lyre,  that  “ lyre  which  the 
nations  heard  entranced,’’  and  by  which  the  shep- 
herd boy  of  Bethlehem  became  the  “ unchallenged 
king  of  psalmody  till  time  shall  be  no  more.”  More 
than  three  hundred  years  before  the  first  recorded 
Olympiad  of  the  Greeks  a Hebrew  prophet  was 
teaching  the  Jewish  people  the  spiritual  nature  of 
sacrifice.  “And  Samuel  said,  Behold,  to  obey  is 
better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken  than  the  fat  of 
rams.”  The  venerable  name  of  Homer  seems  to 
carry  us  back  to  the  beginnings  of  poetry  and  liter- 
ature, but  the  chivalric  Moses  had  nobly  identified 
himself  and  his  fortunes  with  the  slaves  of  Goshen 
four  hundred  years  before  the  blind  old  bard  of 
“ Scio’s  rocky  isle  ” had  begun  his  immortal  epic! 
The  boasted  names  of  Europe’s  proudest  aristoc- 
racy seem  but  of  yesterday  when  compared  with 
the  illustrious  names  of  Hebrew  history. 

2.  The  divine  call  and  the  peculiar  training  of 
Abraham , as  recited  in  the  Scriptures , should  teach  us 
the  glory  and  the  beauty  of  mercy , charity , and  tol- 


The  Call  of  Abraham . 


237 


eration . Abraham  was  at  one  and  the  same  time 
a very  imperfect  but  a very  good  man.  He  must 
be  looked  at  largely,  royally,  generously,  somewhat 
in  the  way  in  which  God  looks  at  men,  or  he  will 
be  sure  to  disappoint  you.  He  was  guilty  of  deceit, 
of  culpable  weakness,  of  mendacity,  and  of  some- 
thing akin  to  cruelty.  Tried  by  our  standards  he 
would,  of  course,  utterly  fail.  But  on  the  other 
hand  consider  his  virtues,  his  excellences,  his  strong 
points,  his  many  meritorious  qualities.  Remember 
his  unvarying  courtesy ; his  kindness  to  Lot,  the 
orphan  nephew;  his  large  unselfishness  and  gener- 
osity in  dealing  with  him  ; his  unsought,  unpaid 
service  to  the  King  of  Sodom  ; his  touching  and  ur- 
gent intercession  for  the  city  of  Sodom  ; his  gracious 
hospitality;  his  wonderful  faith  in  God  ; his  quick, 
full,  unhesitating,  uncalculating  obedience  to  God  ! 
When  he  was  called  to  go  to  Canaan,  he  at 
once  got  ready  and  started.  The  very  day  on 
which  he  covenanted  with  God  to  keep  his  com- 
mandments, and  walk  in  his  ways,  he  circumcised 
his  entire  household,  while  in  his  offering  of  Isaac 
he  most  conspicuously  exhibited  a faith  and  obedi- 
ence that  approached  the  sublime  ! 

Such  was  the  strange  mixture  of  elements  in  the 
character  of  Abraham.  God’s  great  mercy  and 
wondrous  loving-kindness  overlooked  his  petty 
faults,  while  the  divine  charity  dwelt  with  delight 
upon  his  virtues,  and  so  it  was  that  he  became  the 
father  of  the  faithful.  Alas!  how  differently  we 
we  often  act  in  our  judgments  of  men.  We  look 


23 8 Christian  Manliness . 

long  upon  the  weaknesses,  the  mistakes,  the  infirmi- 
ties, the  sins — we  sometimes  magnify  them — while 
we  not  infrequently  almost  entirely  overlook  the 
virtues.  No  man  is  entirely  faulty.  Every  man  is 
sound  and  good  somewhere.  Along  some  line,  in 
some  range  of  power,  in  some  element  of  disposi- 
tion or  character,  every  man  has  virtue,  or  the  ca- 
pacity for  it.  Hunt  these  nobler  qualities  up,  and 
fix  your  attention  upon  them,  if  you  mean  to  be- 
come imitators  of  God.  We  must  learn  to  take 
men  as  they  are,  in  this  world,  especially  if  we  really 
mean  to  help  them,  and  we  should  always  remem- 
ber that  very  imperfect  men  are  sometimes  very 
good  men,  even  as  David  was  a man  after  God’s 
own  heart. 

The  many-sidedness  of  Abraham’s  character 
should  emphasize  anew  for  us  the  much-needed  les- 
son of  toleration.  His  strengths  and  weaknesses, 
his  merits  and  his  faults,  should  teach  us  that  in  the 
same  human  character , and  at  the  same  time , good 
and  evil  may  co-exist.  His  prayer  for  Sodom  shows 
his  compassion  for  wicked  men.  They  were  not 
even  of  his  religion — they  were  idolaters.  His  serv- 
ice to  the  King  of  Sodom  shows  that  he  could 
help  and  rescue  an  alien,  a heretic  and  an  idolater, 
when  in  distress.  There  is  nothing  in  him  of  the 
narrow  and  bitter  spirit  of  intolerance  shown  by  the 
Jews  of  a later  time.  Contrast  his  noble  spirit  in 
praying  for  Sodom  with  the  desire  of  the  disciples 
of  Jesus  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven  on  the  Sa- 
maritan villagers.  There  is  nothing  mean  or  petty 


The  Call  of  Abraham . 


239 


or  dwarfing,  nothing  merely  Jewish,  about  him. 
He  seems  to  belong  to  the  RACE.  Such  men  as 
Abraham  show  us  how  divine  and  glorious  a thing 
toleration  really  is,  for  without  mutual  forbearance 
and  charity,  I am  sure,  we  will  never  be  able  to  un- 
derstand God’s  work  in  this  world  at  all.  A beau- 
tiful legend  of  the  Talmud  may  possibly  explain  to 
us  how  in  some  vision  of  the  night  Abraham  first 
learned  the  lesson  of  toleration.  When  one  even- 
ing Abraham  sat  at  his  tent  door,  according  to  his 
custom,  waiting  to  entertain  strangers,  he  espied  an 
old  man,  who  seemed  to  be  a hundred  years  of 
age,  stooping  and  leaning  on  his  staff,  weary  with 
age  and  travel,  coming  toward  him.  He  received 
him  kindly,  washed  his  feet,  provided  supper,  and 
caused  him  to  sit  down  ; but  observing  that  the  old 
man  ate  and  prayed  not,  nor  begged  for  a blessing 
on  his  meat,  Abraham  asked  him  why  he  did  not 
worship  the  God  of  heaven.  The  old  man  told 
him  that  he  worshiped  the  god  of  fire  only,  and 
acknowledged  no  other  God ; at  which  answer, 
Abraham  grew  so  zealously  angry  that  he  thrust 
the  old  man  out  of  his  tent,  and  exposed  him  to  all 
the  evils  of  the  night  and  an  unguarded  condition. 
When  the  old  man  was  gone  God  called  to  Abra- 
ham, and  asked  him  where  the  stranger  was ; he 
replied,  “ I thrust  him  away  because  he  did  not 
worship  thee.”  God  answered  : “ I have  suffered 
him  to  live  before  me  these  hundred  years,  though 
he  dishonored  me  ; and  thou  couldst  not  endure 
him  for  a single  night  when  he  gave  thee  no 


240 


Christian  Manliness . 


trouble/’  Upon  this  Abraham  fetched  him  back 
again,  and  gave  him  hospitable  entertainment  and 
wise  instruction. 

The  story  is  a fable,  a legend,  I know,  but  the 
lesson  is  always  needed.  If  God  be  so  patient  and 
tolerant  of  flaws  and  imperfections  in  a human 
character,  as  we  see  here  in  Abraham’s  case,  should 
not  we?  And  if  of  moral  faults,  how  much  more 
of  mere  intellectual  error  ! These  bad,  mistaken, 
and  wicked  men  and  women  all  about  us,  God 
suffers  them,  and  shall  not  we?  My  friends,  it  is 
better  to  pray  even  for  Sodom  than  to  curse  it. 
There  is  only  one  thing  God  is  unwilling  to  put 
into  men’s  hands,  and  that  is  the  infliction  of 
retaliation.  “Vengeance  is  MINE;  I will  repay, 
saith  the  Lord.” 

3.  Consider  the  momentous  import,  from  the 
stand-point  of  religious  truth,  of  the  call  of  Abraham. 
He  was  more  than  the  father  of  the  Jewish  people, 
and  the  founder  of  the  Jewish  nation.  He  was  the 
first  clear,  undoubted,  divinely  instructed  witness  to 
the  unity,  the  spirituality,  and  the  real  governance 
of  Jehovah.  That  is,  he  was  the  first  witness  to  the 
actuality,  the  reality  of  a supernatural  revelation. 
He  was  an  organ  for  the  expression  of  the  divine 
will.  He  was  inspired  of  God,  fitted,  taught,  pre- 
pared by  God,  to  be  the  medium  of  truth  undis- 
coverable  by  man’s  unaided  faculties.  The  simple 
idea  of  the  divine  unity,  for  example,  is  in  the 
world.  Men  do  believe  in  one  Lord,  not  many 
gods.  How  did  it  get  here  ? Whence  its  origin  ? 


The  Call  of  Abraham . 


241 


It  is  as  a matter  of  fact  distinctly  traceable  to  the 
Jews  as  a people.  Historically,  we  can  trace  it 
back  step  by  step  to  this  Jewish  people.  So,  in 
like  manner,  we  trace  it  back,  generation  by 
generation,  family  by  family,  until  we  find  it  in 
the  family  and  person  of  Abraham.  He  unques- 
tionably held  it,  and  that  antecedently  to  all 
others.  The  polytheism  or  idolatry  then  prevailing 
among  his  contemporaries,  in  one  country  not  only, 
but  in  all  the  world,  is  now  universally  conceded. 
Whence,  then,  did  he  derive  this  peculiar  idea,  this 
sacred  truth?  He  entirely  escaped  the  worship  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  and  the  deification  of  eminent 
men,  as  priests  and  kings.  Somehow  or  other,  he, 
and  he  alone,  is  wholly  free  from  every  taint  of  idol- 
atry. Again  I say,  Abraham  is  in  clear  and  un- 
doubted possession  of  this  idea,  and  I press  the 
solemn  question,  “ Whence  did  he  derive  it  ?”  And 
I answer,  God  himself  revealed  it  to  him  by  his  Spirit . 
The  greatest  living  Oriental  scholar,  the  chief  of 
those  who  make  comparative  religion  a study,  Max 
Muller,  says,  “And  if  we  were  asked  how  this  one 
Abraham  passed  through  the  denial  of  all  other 
gods  to  the  knowledge  of  the  one  true  God,  we 
are  content  to  answer  that  it  was  by  a special  divine 
revelation.” 

O the  blessed  significance  of  it ! O glorious 
word  ! God  has  spoken  to  us ! The  silences  have 
been  broken,  and  the  loving  messages  of  God  have 
come  to  us,  bidding  us  look  up,  and  live,  and  hope  ! 
We  know  not  the  distance  between  the  summer- 


242 


Christian  Manliness . 


land  of  God’s  heart  and  these  wastes  of  sin,  but  it 
has  been  traversed  by  God’s  angels  of  mercy,  and 
will  be  again.  The  words  of  the  Eternal  have 
been  spoken  to  man.  Abraham  has  heard  these 
words,  and  is  henceforth  the  Pilgrim  of  the  Invisi- 
ble! 


Law  in  the  Spiritual  Realm. 


243 


LAW  IN  THE  SPIRITUAL  REALM. 

If  ye  keep  my  commandments,  ye  shall  abide  in  my  love  ; even 
as  I have  kept  my  Father’s  commandments,  and  abide  in  his  love. — 
John  xv,  10. 

Man  is  the  subject  of  law  throughout  his  entire 
earthly  existence.  He  never  escapes  its  rule  for  a 
single  instant.  There  is  a cause,  a reason,  a law  for 
his  first  and  for  his  last  breath.  He  is  what  he  is 
from  moment  to  moment  by  virtue  of  his  obedience 
or  disobedience  to  the  conditions  environing  him. 
He  is  related  to  the  physical  globe,  to  the  air,  to  the 
light,  to  the  heat,  to  food,  to  work,  to  society,  to 
play,  to  trade,  to  commerce,  to  government,  to  his 
fellow-men,  and  the  laws  of  these  various  relations 
are  necessary  to  his  existence,  growth,  happiness, 
and  power.  In  other  words,  we  have  our  existence 
in  a moral  universe.  The  constitution  under  which 
we  live  is  such  that  if  one  event  occurs  another  event 
necessarily  occurs.  The  constitution  of  affairs  is  such 
that  consequent  must  have  its  antecedent,  that  every 
effect  must  have  a cause,  that  what  is  is  the  child  of 
the  past  and  the  parent  of  the  future;  that  all  re- 
sults, whether  they  be  gross  and  material,  or  fine, 
spiritual,  and  impalpable,  are  conditioned,  and  not 
whimsical,  or  arbitrary,  or  capricious. 

The  solemn  message  of  nature  to  man  is:  “ Keep 
my  commandments,  and  I will  bless  you,  I will  feed 


244 


Christian  Manliness. 


you,  I will  support  and  sustain  you,  I will  elevate, 
strengthen,  enrich,  and  honor  you.  Disobey  my 
laws,  and  I will  punish  you,  I will  weaken  you,  I 
will  give  you  pain,  I will  degrade  you,  I will  make 
you  poor,  and  at  last  I will  destroy  you.”  This  is 
the  impartial,  unvarying  message  of  nature  to  man 
every-where,  in  all  ages  and  in  all  countries,  in  sav- 
agery and  in  civilization. 

All  we  have  comes  primarily  from  the  earth.  Out 
of  the  soil  comes,  first  or  last,  that  which  supports 
human  life,  and  that  without  which  human  life  could 
not  be  maintained  on  this  globe  ; but  here,  as  every- 
where, law  reigns.  We  avail  ourselves  of  the  prod- 
ucts and  wealth  of  the  earth  by  ascertaining  and 
obeying  certain  well-established  laws.  It  is  not  a 
matter  of  indifference  when  a man  plants  corn  or 
sows  wheat  ; there  are  times  for  doing  those  things, 
and  our  business  is  to  ascertain  these  times,  to  con- 
form to  these  conditions ; and  any  attempt  to  go 
contrary  to  these  immutable  conditions  of  nature 
leaves  us  without  corn  and  without  wheat.  The 
man  who  should  attempt  to  do  in  the  month  of  De- 
cember that  which  nature  has  appointed  to  be  done 
in  the  month  of  May,  the  man  who  should  attempt 
to  do  in  the  month  of  May  that  which  should  be 
done  in  the  month  of  October,  would  speedily  find 
that  law  reigns  in  husbandry,  and  that  it  is  only  by 
finding  out  and  conforming  to  the  conditions  of 
germination  and  growth  on  the  physical  globe  that 
we  can  have  our  life  on  the  earth.  If  we  do  not 
obey  these  conditions,  instantly  we  suffer  loss;  and 


Law  in  the  Spiritual  Realm.  245 

if  to-day  the  whole  race  should  deliberately  resolve 
to  set  aside  these  conditions,  and  every  man  pro- 
ceed to  live  after  his  own  sweet  will,  the  time  would 
not  be  long  before  man  would  perish  by  starvation. 

So  is  it  when  we  come  to  our  bodies;  there  is  a 
cause  for  our  health  or  our  ill  health.  There  are 
laws  governing  the  growth,  the  strength,  the  health, 
the  longevity  of  all  physical  organisms  on  this 
globe.  When  the  headache  comes,  if  you  have 
reached  the  period  of  intelligence  and  reflection, 
you  at  once  begin  to  inquire  as  to  the  cause  of  the 
disturbance.  You  know  that  the  pain  did  not  come 
arbitrarily,  or  fortuitously,  or  vindictively,  or  capri- 
ciously; you  know  that  there  must  be  some  near  or 
remote  cause  for  it,  either  in  what  you  ate  or  did 
not  eat,  in  the  loss  of  sleep,  in  extraordinary  exer- 
tions, or  in  your  inheritances — you  are  certain  that 
somewhere  or  other  there  is  a distinct  cause  or  rea- 
son for  the  headache.  There  is  a cause  for  the 
fever;  there  is  a cause  for  the  cough;  there  is  a 
cause  for  the  pestilence  ; there  are  conditions,  laws, 
surrounding  our  physical  being,  and  it  is  at  our 
grave  peril  that  we  seek  to  evade  or  escape  from 
them.  Obedience  to  them  is  the  price  we  pay  for 
health,  strength,  and  long  life. 

The  reign  of  law  obtains  in  all  the  commercial 
and  industrial  pursuits  and  activities  of  human  life. 

“ Well,  young  man,”  says  the  gray-haired  head  of 
the  house  to  the  new  employee,  “ do  you  know  the 
laws  of  success  in  this  business  ?”  “ Not  very  well, 
sir.”  “ In  the  first  place,  you  must  be  industrious, 


246 


Christian  Manliness . 


you  must  be  thrifty,  you  must  be  economical,  you 
must  be  clear-headed  and  sagacious,  you  must  be 
diligent,  you  must  be  honest,  you  must  be  patient.” 
In  other  words,  the  laws  of  industry,  of  patience,  of 
skill,  of  sagacity,  of  economy,  constitute  the  condi- 
tions of  commercial  and  industrial  success.  If  any 
young  man,  swollen  with  vanity,  imagines  that  law 
does  not  rule  here,  let  him  try  it : let  him  be  lazy,  let 
him  be  improvident  and  wasteful,  let  him  be  care- 
less of  his  word,  let  it  be  a matter  of  indifference 
with  him  whether  he  shall  arrive  at  his  office  at  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning  or  two  o’clock  in  the  after- 
noon, and  he  will  soon  find  that,  although  these 
laws  are  not  printed  in  any  statute-book,  neverthe- 
less they  determine  the  question  of  success  in  all 
the  industrial  and  commercial  relations  of  life. 

Law  conditions  the  awakening  and  unfolding  of 
the  intellectual  powers  and  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge. Grote’s  History  of  Greece , twelve  good- 
sized  volumes,  may  be  enough  to  discourage  the 
beginner,  but  he  who  would  have  a broad  and  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  Greek  history  must  read  it,  and 
master  its  contents.  You  cannot  dream  yourself 
into  a knowledge  of  it,  you  cannot  wish  yourself 
into  a knowledge  of  it ; there  is  only  one  way  to  be 
familiar  with  the  glorious  age  of  Pericles,  and  that 
is  thoroughly  to  read  about  it,  and  meditate  about 
it,  and  reflect  about  it,  and  thus  get  yourself  steeped, 
in  the  very  spirit  of  the  time.  Suppose  the  young 
collegian  or  student  has  a rich  social  nature,  he  can- 
not give  full  vent  to  this  nature  and  become  an 


247 


Lazv  in  the  Spiritual  Realm . 

exact  and  broad  scholar:  he  must  say  to  his  strong 
social  desires,  “ You  must  serve  and  wait.”  Law 
governs  the  acquisition  of  all  knowledge,  as  well  as 
the  sharpening  and  drilling  into  fineness  and  power 
of  our  faculties.  There  is  no  easy,  royal,  luxurious 
road  to  learning;  there  is  no  royal  road  to  wealth  ; 
there  is  no  royal  road  to  health  ; all  these  ways 
have  been  thoroughly  explored  for  centuries,  and 
they  who  attempt  to  acquire  knowledge,  or  to  amass 
wealth,  or  to  build  up  strong  bodies  by  violating 
these  laws  are  sure  to  come  to  grief  and  ruin.  The 
man  has  never  lived  who  has  been  able,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  these  inexorable  facts,  to  set  up  an  ideal 
universe  of  his  own.  Law  rules  from  the  time  we 
begin  to  breathe  until  all  is  over ; and  then  law 
takes  our  bodies  and  decomposes  them,  and  re- 
stores the  elements  that  entered  into  them  to  their 
original  form,  that  they  may  in  turn  enter  into 
other  bodies.  We  were  born,  we  work,  we  love,  we 
suffer,  we  triumph,  we  fail,  we  die,  under  the  reign 
of  impartial,  immutable,  beneficent  law. 

And  now,  when  we  come  to  the  life  and  activities 
of  the  spirit,  does  God  reverse  his  method?  When 
we  come  to  the  realm  of  the  religious  life,  with  its 
rich  experiences  and  glorious  products,  has  God 
given  us  a lawless,  chance,  haphazard  realm  ? When 
we  come  to  that  sphere  in  which  we  ascertain  man’s 
relations  and  duties  to  those  things  that  are  invisi- 
ble, is  law  banished  ? Do  we  say  that  caprice,  im- 
pulse, and  fancy  rule  here?  Is  such  teaching  in 
accordance  with  the  ascertained  analogies  of  the 


248 


Christian  Manliness , 


development  of  human  nature,  and  the  mainte- 
nance of  human  life  in  other  realms  of  activity  ? Man 
is  not  only  the  subject  of  physical  conditions;  he  is 
not  only  related  to  the  state,  and  to  trade,  and  to 
the  intellectual  life;  he  is  related  also  (and  far  more 
deeply  than  he  imagines)  to  the  spiritual  realm  ; he 
is  related  to  the  great  truth  of  an  Invisible  Father, 
whose  child  he  is,  and  whose  nature  he  bears,  and 
upon  his  spirit  is  the  ineffaceable  divine  impress. 
He  is  tied  to  great  and  solemn  duties,  from  which 
he  may  not  escape,  and  which  it  is  his  glory  to  ac- 
knowledge and  to  perform  ; duties  that  suggest  and 
involve  eternity.  He  sustains  relations  to  the  great 
idea  of  the  survival  of  his  life  hereafter  and  forever, 
and  so  of  a more  intimate  and  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  Father  of  his  spirit.  Can  it  be  possible  that  wTe 
are  in  the  vise-like  grip  of  law  until  we  touch  that 
realm,  and  that  then  fancy,  arbitrariness,  luck,  acci- 
dent, are  to  take  the  place  of  law  ? And  yet  I fear 
that  many  religious  people  indulge  themselves  in 
the  luxurious  delusion  that  the  religious  realm  is 
lawless  ; without  order,  without  fixed  conditions, 
without  distinct  and  stringent  requirements  of 
obedience.  Hear  the  text  again  : “ If  ye  keep  my 
commandments,  ye  shall  abide  in  my  love.” 
Where  is  it  taught  otherwise  in  the  Bible? 
This  passage  does  not  say,  “ If  ye  keep  my 
commandments,  I will  begin  to  love  you.”  It  is 
not  taught  here  that  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ  to  men 
as  the  expression,  the  manifestation,  the  bodying 
forth  of  the  eternal  love  of  God,  is  contingent  upon 


Law  in  the  Spiritual  Realm . 249 

our  obedience  to  him,  but  it  is  taught  that  if  we 
are  to  realize  that  love,  if  we  are  consciously  to  en- 
ter into  it,  if  we  are  to  abide  in  it,  we  must  keep 
his  commandments.  The  statement  is  not,  “ Obey, 
that  you  may  create  this  divine  love,”  but,  “ Obey, 
that  you  may  know  it,  and  abide  in  it,”  and  the  dif- 
ference is  vast  and  significant.  “ If  ye  keep  my 
commandments,  ye  shall  abide  in  my  love  ; even 
as  I have  kept  my  Father’s  commandments,  and 
abide  in  his  love.” 

Now,  what  are  some  of  the  plain,  simple  com- 
mandments of  Jesus?  You  know  he  did  not  give 
us  just  so  many  precepts  after  the  letter,  he  did 
not  give  us  ceremonial  ritual  commandments  after 
the  example  of  Moses  to  the  Jews,  but,  neverthe- 
less, he  gave  us  commandments.  I may  not  ex- 
haust them  in  the  brief  time  at  my  disposal,  but  I 
can  indicate  and  emphasize  some  of  them. 

It  will  not  be  disputed  that  this  is  one  of  his 
commandments:  repent!  Repent  instantly,  re- 
pent thoroughly,  repent  strenuously — all  men  will 
agree  that  this  was,  and  is,  one  of  his  command- 
ments. He  began  to  preach  by  saying  : “ Repent ; 
change  your  lives ; fall  out  with  evil ; turn  away 
from  the  evil  that  you  find  in  yourself ; do  not 
waste  your  life  in  meditating  about  it,  but  turn 
away  from  wrong-doing  at  once,  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  at  hand,  it  is  here  now,  it  is  open  to  all 
who  will  enter  it ; put  down  the  evil  that  is  within 
you,  flee  at  once  from  the  evil  that  solicits  you  ; 
remodel  your  dispositions ; set  your  faces  toward 


250 


Christian  Manliness . 


that  which  is  good.”  How  can  a man  expect  to 
discern  and  enter  into  Christ's  love  who  has  never 
repented  ? How  can  a man  expect  to  abide  in 
Christ’s  love,  as  the  dearest  possession  of  his  soul, 
who  has  never  been  willing  to  conform  to  this 
commandment  of  repentance?  This  love  which  is 
so  freely  proffered  to  us,  and  is  disclosed  as  divine 
and  eternal,  how  can  the  unrepentant  man  avail 
himself  of  it?  If  he  will  not  repent,  or  if  he  re- 
pents only  of  those  sins  that  are  easy  to  repent  of, 
if  he  will  repent  of  those  sins  which  are  superficial 
and  external  only,  and  not  of  those  sins  which  are 
internal  and  spiritual : if  he  will  not  repent  of  the 
malign  spirit  of  envy  that  eats  out  the  heart  of 
love  and  holiness,  if  he  will  not  repent  of  the  self- 
ishness that  is  mastering  him,  if  he  will  not  cast 
out  the  whole  infernal  brood  of  inner  devils  that 
are  surely  demonizing  him — if  he  will  not  repent  of 
all  these  things  how  can  he  expect  to  abide  in  that 
Love  which  has  for  the  first  and  fundamental  con- 
dition of  its  realization  the  earnestness  and  entire- 
ness of  our  repentance? 

Prayer  is  a command  of  Jesus.  Not  that  we 
shall  formally  repeat  so  many  prayers  a definite 
number  of  times  each  day,  not  that  our  prayers 
shall  be  of  a certain  length,  not  that  we  shall  in- 
clude such  and  such  topics,  not  that  we  shall  pray 
at  such  and  such  holy  places,  in  a given  attitude, 
but  this  general  truth  is  his  commandment  con- 
cerning prayer:  that  man  needs  to  carry  his  spirit 
up  to  God,  that  it  may  be  cleansed  and  refreshed, 


Law  in  the  Spiritual  Realm . 251 

and  receive  the  divine  light.  This  also  does  he 
teach  and  command  us  concerning  prayer:  that  we 
are  to  be  diligent,  intelligent,  and  persistent  in  it ; 
that  we  ought  not  to  faint  or  be  discouraged  in 
cultivating  the  spirit  and  habit  of  prayer ; that  if 
the  unjust  judge,  by  reason  of  unceasing  impor- 
tunity, would  do  right,  how  much  more  may  we 
expect  the  Just  Judge  to  do  right  when  his  chil- 
dren cry  day  and  night  unto  him  ? How,  then, 
can  a man  expect  to  abide  in  the  love  of  Jesus,  to 
enter  into  the  enjoyment  and  strength  of  that  love, 
who  does  not  pray?  How  can  a man  expect  to 
abide  in  it  who  says  prayers?  I am  not  now  re- 
ferring to  those  persons  of  other  religious  denom- 
inations who  use  fixed  forms  of  prayer.  I speak 
of  the  religious  man  who  is  in  such  a hurry  in  the 
morning  that  he  has  no  time  for  private  prayer,  un- 
less it  be  to  mumble  a few  unfelt,  superstitious 
words,  and  omits  the  family  worship  after  break- 
fast ! I speak  of  the  man  who  at  night  gives  hours 
to  recreation  and  amusement,  and  grudges  minutes 
for  God  ! Call  that  prayer  ! Call  that  taking  the 
soul  out  of  its  life  of  sordid  care,  and  out  of  all  that 
which  defiles  and  degrades,  and  lifting  it  up  into 
rapt  and  holy  and  blessed  communion  with  God  ! 
How  can  a man  expect  to  know  the  love  of  God  in 
Christ,  if  he  will  not  daily  strive  to  live  in  the  at- 
mosphere of  prayer? 

Another  commandment  of  Christ  may  be  com- 
prehended in  the  general  expression,  strenuousness 

of  spiritual  endeavor . A Christian  life  may  be 
17 


252 


Christian  Manliness . 


made  easy,  luxurious,  and  self-indulgent,  in  view 
of  the  prevailing  idea  of  superficial  expansion  and 
culture,  but  when  I turn  to  the  New  Testament, 
and  open  my  whole  heart  and  mind  to  the  real 
meaning  and  spirit  of  the  Book,  I am  more  and 
more  impressed  with  one  thing:  that  Jesus  Christ 
commands  us  strenuously  to  endeavor  toward  the 
spiritual  life.  What  does  he  say?  “STRIVE  to 
enter  in  at  the  strait  gate  ; for  many,  I say  unto 
you,  will  seek  to  enter  in  and  shall  not  be  able.” 
We  may  imagine  that  it  is  a delightful  holiday  task 
to  live  a Christian  life  amid  the  abounding  wealth 
and  luxury  of  a great  city ; but  it  is  not  a holiday  task 
to  live  a Christian  life  here  or  anywhere  if  the  New 
Testament  be  our  book  of  directions.  If  we  would 
indeed  live  that  life,  it  will  require  of  us  the  most  ur- 
gent, the  most  through,  the  most  persistent,  the  most 
strenuous  endeavors  of  which  we  are  capable.  How 
shall  we  know  the  love  of  God  if  we  are  strang- 
ers to  this  intense,  fervid,  spiritual  earnestness? 

Consider  the  great  commandment  of  Jesus:  the 
commandment  to  cultivate  the  disposition  of  love 
toward  all  men.  I reserved  it  for  the  last,  because 
it  is  the  commanding  commandment  of  Jesus.  I 
know  how  we  evade  it ; I know  how  we  seek  to 
escape  from  it  ; I know  how  disagreeable  it  is  to 
the  carnal  and  worldly  spirit.  But  if  Jesus  did  not 
command  men  to  love  men  ; if  he  did  not  command 
men  so  to  love  each  other  that  they  would  not  hate, 
or  wrong,  or  defile,  or  degrade  each  other;  if  he 
did  not  teach  me  to  love  all  men,  without  regard  to 


Law  in  the  Spiritual  Realm . 253 

their  culture,  or  their  color,  or  their  wealth,  or  their 
poverty,  or  their  virtue,  or  their  weakness  ; if  Jesus 
Christ  does  not  teach  me  that  I am  to  love  all  men 
as  men,  if  he  does  not  teach  me  that  I am  to  put  up 
with  disagreeable  people,  if  he  does  not  teach  me 
to  bear  with  mean  people,  if  he  does  not  teach 
me  that  my  whole  heart's  love  is  to  go  out  to  men 
in  proportion  to  the  sharpness  and  greatness  of 
their  need,  if  he  does  not  teach  me  that  my  life  is 
to  be  lived  in  this  atmosphere  of  love  for  men — if 
he  does  not  command  and  teach  me  these  things, 
he  has  not  commanded  or  taught  me  any  thing. 
How,  then,  can  a man  expect  to  rise  up  to  the 
knowledge  of  this  divine  love  who  does  not  love 
men,  and  is  not  trying  to  love  men  ? 

These  are  some  of  the  conditions  upon  which  we 
are  to  know  and  abide  in  the  divine  love.  There 
is  no  room,  then,  in  the  Christian  life  for  fanati- 
cism ; there  is  no  place  left  in  the  Christian  life  for 
that  kind  of  false  enthusiasm  which  expects  the  end 
without  the  means.  Not  a few  people  are  just 
religious  enough  to  be  unhappy  and  miserable  all  the 
time.  They  are  like  a bright  boy  I knew  at  college, 
the  son  of  a wealthy  and  prominent  man,  while 
nearly  all  the  other  students  were  of  the  homespun 
sort,  and  came  from  plain  and  humble  homes.  He 
was  naturally  as  well  endowed  as  any  of  the  students, 
perhaps  better  endowed,  but  the  truth  was  that  he 
did  not  want  to  study;  he  wanted  to  be  at  the  head 
of  his  class  without  work;  he  wanted,  without  toil 
and  self-denial,  to  pass  the  great  rude  boy  that  came 


254 


Christian  Manliness . 


from  the  country — a boy  who  made  his  first  appear- 
ance at  college  with  no  collar  on,  and  with  the 
roughest  pair  of  boots  and  the  shortest  pair  of 
trousers  ever  worn  by  a prospective  freshman.  When 
he  saw  that  boy  going  to  the  head  of  the  class  he 
was  irritated  and  exasperated  ; he  had  just  enough 
desire  to  be  a scholar  to  keep  himself  in  a state  of 
misery  all  the  time,  and  all  because  he  would  not 
obey  the  laws  of  college  mastery  and  leadership. 
How  many  people  there  are  who  are  religious  in 
that  way  ! They  are  complaining  and  murmuring 
all  the  time,  and  yet  they  will  not  keep  the  laws  of 
the  Christian  life.  It  is  just  as  it  is  elsewhere — in 
the  practice  of  the  law,  in  business  life,  in  teaching 
school,  every-where  : hanging  on  to  every  pursuit 
and  vocation  in  life  is  a great  crowd  of  murmurers, 
whiners,  complainers,  fault-finders.  There  are  men 
who  sit  in  their  offices  (where,  by  the  way,  nobody 
ever  comes  to  see  them),  who  can  tell  you  exactly 
how  that  man  across  the  street  made  his  millions, 
but  they  never  tell  you  why  they  did  not  make 
millions.  They  rail  at  the  world  because  they  have 
not  succeeded,  when  the  reason  of  it  is  that  they 
have  been  idle,  or  dishonest,  or  self-indulgent,  and 
have  not  brought  to  bear  upon  their  work  in  lire 
sufficient  energy  and  discretion.  So  there  are  people 
in  the  church  who  are  leading  miserable  religious 
lives:  they  never  have  any  joy;  they  never  have 
any  discernible  spiritual  power;  it  is  all  a question 
of  disagreeable  duty  with  them  ; they  perform  cer- 
tain religious  duties  because  the  set  time  has  come 


Laiv  in  the  Spiritual  Realm . 255 

for  their  observance,  and  because  they  think  in  a 
vague  way  that  if  they  do  not  do  these  things  some 
great,  undefined,  awful  calamity  will  happen  to  them. 
They  want  to  secure  the  peace  and  power  of  the  love 
of  Christ  without  keeping  his  commandments ; they 
want  life,  and  comfort,  and  faith,  but  they  are  not 
willing  to  obey  the  commandments.  Repent!  “ I will 
repent  of  every  thing  but  that  one  thing,  and  I wont 
repent  of  that  now.”  Pray?  “Well,  I am  a busy 
man,  and  I have  not  time  for  family  prayers;  I am 
willing  to  say  my  prayers  morning  and  evening.” 
“ Strenuousness  of  spiritual  endeavor  ? ” They  know 
nothing  at  all  about  strenuousness  of  spiritual  en- 
deavor. “ Cultivating  a disposition  of  love  toward  all 
men?”  Why,  they  despise  and  sneer  at  the  majority 
of  men  ! Now,  how  can  one,  so  living,  expect  to 
know  the  love  of  Christ?  “ If  ye  keep  my  com- 
mandments, ye  shall  abide  in  my  love ; even  as  I 
have  kept  my  Father’s  commandments,  and  abide 
in  his  love.” 

Our  obedience  does  not  create,  but  it  brings  us 
into  the  conditions  in  which,  and  in  which  alone, 
we  can  clearly  discern  and  joyfully  appropriate  the 
divine  love.  I once  lived  in  a State  where  there 
were  a great  many  lazy  and  ignorant  farmers,  culpa- 
bly ignorant  of  the  properties  of  the  soil,  and  of 
what  kind  of  crops  could  most  successfully  be  raised 
by  them.  Suppose  a farmer  in  this  region  who 
spent  most  of  his  time  hunting  and  trying  to  get 
food  for  twelve  or  thirteen  lean,  lank,  hungry  dogs 
which  he  kept,  and  who  was  always  complaining 


256  Christian  Manliness. 

that  the  soil  was  so  poor  that  he  could  scarcely  get 
a living  out  of  it.  Suppose  such  a man  as  this 
should  wake  up  some  morning  and  find  out  that 
what  he  needed  to  do  was  to  obey  the  conditions 
of  success — namely,  to  plow  his  fields;  even,  if  the 
soil  was  a little  poor,  to  plow  deep,  and  not  merely 
scratch  the  surface  of  the  ground  ; that  he  was  to 
take  out  the  briars  and  weeds  by  the  roots,  to  have 
secure  fences,  so  as  to  keep  the  cattle  and  hogs  out, 
to  sow  good  seed  and  diligently  cultivate  it,  and 
that  by  so  doing  he  should  avail  himself  of  the  air 
and  light  and  heat  and  rain,  and  all  the  producing 
properties  of  the  soil.  Imagine  such  a man,  after 
he  had  raised  two  or  three  generous  crops,  compla- 
cently saying  to  himself:  “I  created  the  sun;  I 

created  the  light ; I caused  the  rain  to  fall ; I 
created  the  constituent  elements  in  the  soil  that 
gave  me  my  wheat.”  That  is  what  some  people 
would  have  us  say  about  the  love  of  our  Father  in 
heaven ; they  want  us  to  say  that  when  we  get  to 
doing  good  we  create  in  him  for  the  first  time  a 
disposition  to  love  us.  In  other  words,  that  when 
we  begin  to  do  good  God  begins  to  love  us,  and 
that  if  the  case  were  otherwise  God  would  not  love 
us  at  all.  No,  no,  my  brethren.  The  divine  love 
for  men  existed  long  before  we  were  born  ; it  has  ex- 
isted from  the  beginning— if  any  body  knows  when 
that  was.  By  obedience  (and  it  is  his  love  even 
that  inclines  us  to  obedience)  we  bring  ourselves 
into  conditions  where  that  love  becomes  present, 
actual,  realizable.  I notice  that  when  my  boy  dis- 


Law  in  the  Spiritual  Realm . 257 

obeys  me,  he  seems  to  have  serious  doubts  as  to 
the  reality  of  my  love  for  him.  If  I attempt,  in  a 
practical  way,  to  convince  him  that  I love  him,  he 
does  not  hesitate  openly  to  deny  the  fact  of  my 
love.  Do  we  not  all  know  that  a child,  during  the 
period  of  its  defiant  willfulness,  will  accept  no  out- 
ward evidences  of  parental  love  ? And  do  we  not 
all  know  that  obedience  to  Christ’s  commandments 
is  an  indispensable  condition  of  making  his  love 
real  and  present  to  our  hearts? 

When  Thomas  Carlyle  determined  to  write  the 
Life  of  Frederick  the  Great  he  put  himself  in  train- 
ing to  realize,  as  far  as  possible,  all  the  conditions 
of  the  life  of  Prussia  at  that  time.  He  prepared 
his  room  with  reference  to  it ; the  desk  on  which 
he  wrote  was  from  Germany ; his  inkstand  was 
from  Germany;  his  ink  was  from  Germany;  his 
pen  was  from  Germany;  the  paper  on  which  he 
wrote  was  from  Germany ; the  pictures  on  the 
walls  were  German  pictures ; all  the  books  in  that 
room  were  German  books,  and  related  to  that 
time  ; so  that  when  he  went  into  the  room  at  any 
time  to  compose  he  was  in  the  presence  of  such 
circumstances  as  served  perpetually  to  suggest  Ger- 
many to  his  mind,  and  he  almost  lived  in  that  room 
during  the  years  in  which  he  produced  that  great 
book. 

This  age  is  spiritually  decrepit;  halting,  languid, 
feeble.  It  is  a time,  indeed,  in  which  there  is  much 
to  praise,  a time  of  discovery  of  great  truths,  of  vast 
external  works  of  benevolence,  but  it  is  not  an  age 


258 


Christian  Manliness. 


of  profound  spiritual  life.  It  is  an  age  of  feet,  not 
wings.  It  is  not  an  age  when  the  great  invisible 
realities  are  strongly  grasped  and  realized  by  men ; 
it  is  an  age  in  which  we  hope  that  life  may  have  a 
spiritual  meaning;  it  is  an  age  in  which  we  hope 
there  may  be  a personal,  willing,  loving  God  ; it  is 
an  age  in  which  we  hope  there  may  be  life  to  come ; 
but  it  is  not  an  age  in  which  these  great  supersen- 
suous  truths  are  steadily  realized  and  made  poten- 
tial in  the  lives  of  men.  And  no  wonder;  no  won- 
der ! We  have  not  obeyed  the  conditions  by  which 
we  realize  spiritual  truth.  When  the  men  of  this 
age  will  repent ; when  they  will  repent  instantly  and 
thoroughly;  when  the  men  of  this  time  will  PRAY, 
not  say  prayers ; when  the  men  of  this  time  engage 
themselves  to  strenuousness  of  spiritual  endeavor ; 
when  the  men  of  this  time  will  learn  to  love  all  their 
brother-men,  not  by  machinery,  not  by  charity  so- 
cieties, not  by  subscribing  to  the  support  of  the 
Gospel,  but  by  downright  kindness  and  helpfulness — 
when  we  thus  fulfill  the  conditions  of  spiritual  pen- 
etration and  vigor,  there  will  come  to  the  men  of 
this  time  an  experience  of  the  power  and  the  bless- 
edness of  the  great  invisible  realities  ! O how  poor 
and  empty  are  our  lives!  You  may  amass  your 
wealth,  you  may  acquire  your  knowledge,  you  may 
establish  your  fame,  you  may  have  the  love  of  wife 
and  child,  but  who  does  not  know  that  there  come 
passages,  histories,  experiences,  griefs  in  life,  when 
not  wealth,  nor  knowledge,  nor  ambition,  nor  the 
love  of  wife,  or  child,  or  friend,  will  satisfy  the  deso- 


Law  in  the  Spiritual  Realm . 259 

late  soul  ? Who  does  not  know  that  there  come 
times  when,  above  all  things  else,  we  yearn  to  know 
that  there  is  a Mighty  One  to  love  us?  Who  does 
not  know  that  there  are  times  when  what  we  need 
to  know  is,  not  whether  we  love  God,  but  whether 
God  loves  us?  And  how  can  we  know  it  if  we  will 
not  heed  his  commandments?  This  is  the  fatal 
heresy:  to  deny  the  reign  of  law  in  things  spiritual. 
May  we  be  preserved  from  this  heresy  ! May  God 
mercifully  incline  our  wayward  hearts  to  keep  his 
commandments,  to  the  end  that  we  may  know  and 
eternally  abide  in  his  righteous,  sovereign  Love  ! 


26o 


Christian  Manliness. 


THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  IMMOR- 
TALITY. 

i. 

If  a man  die,  shall  he  live  again  ? — Job  xiv,  14. 

This  is  an  ancient,  universal,  and  solemn  ques- 
tion. It  is  an  ancient  question,  I say;  for  we  may 
well  suppose  that  the  first  man  who  ever  stood  upon 
the  earth,  when  he  found  himself  in  the  dread  pres- 
ence of  death,  asked  this  question.  It  is  a universal 
question  ; for  we  may  well  suppose  that  every  man 
who  since  that  time  has  entered,  or  has  seen  his 
friends  entering,  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death, 
has  asked  the  same  question.  It  is  a solemn  ques- 
tion ; for  we  cannot  suppose  that  any  normally  con- 
stituted man,  any  sound,  honest,  healthy  moral 
nature,  could  ask  or  seek  to  answer  this  question  in 
a spirit  of  mere  intellectual  levity.  It  is,  further, 
more  a question  of  immense  and  inconceivable  prac- 
tical importance.  If  this  question  is  answered  in 
the  affirmative,  if  it  be  declared  by  some  competent 
and  reliable  authority  that  man  shall  live  again 
after  death,  a new  light  and  radiance  and  inspiration 
is  shed  over  the  pathway  and  experiences  of  human 
life,  while  the  opening  vistas  of  the  untrodden  fut- 
ure are  invested  with  a sweet  attractiveness  and  a 
divine  glory.  If  this  question  be  answered  in  the 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 261 

negative,  if  it  be  declared  by  some  competent  and 
reliable  authority  that  death  ends  all,  what  is  this  life 
of  ours  but  one  continued  round  of  anguish  and  sor- 
row, of  unsatisfied  yearnings  and  bitter  disappoint- 
ments ? If,  to  use  the  language  of  Professor  Tyndall 
in  his  famous  Belfast  address,  “you  and  I are  des- 
tined, like  streaks  of  the  morning  cloud,  to  melt  into 
the  infinite  azure  of  the  past,”  life  is  a golden  and 
glorious  promise  never  to  be  fulfilled.  If  man  is  not 
immortal,  nature  “ has  imposed  upon  her  sons,  and 
made  them  a lie.”  We  have  been  created  to  be 
baffled,  to  be  thwarted,  to  be  mocked,  to  be  toyed 
with,  by  the  great  blind,  pitiless  forces  of  nature, 
and  then  to  be  dissolved  into  nothingness  forever. 
Christianity  teaches  that  man  shall  live  again  after 
death.  It  sings  no  funereal  hymns,  it  wails  no  re- 
quiems, it  chants  no  dirges.  Distinctly  and  elo- 
quently and  solemnly  does  it  proclaim  the  truth  of 
our  great  immortality.  It  adopts  and  makes  its 
own  the  sentiment  of  the  poet : 

“ The  sun  is  but  a spark  of  fire, 

A transient  meteor  in  the  sky; 

The  soul,  immortal  as  its  sire, 

Shall  never  die." 

We  are  to  consider  the  reasonableness  of  the 
Christian  doctrine  of  a conscious  future  life  for  the 
human  spirit.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  attempt 
to  prove , by  any  methods  of  formal  logic,  that 
the  soul  shall  survive  death.  The  evidences  of  the 
reality  and  permanence  of  our  spiritual  being  are 


26  2 


Christian  Manliness . 


neither  logical  nor  physical,  but  moral  and  personal. 
The  reality  of  a future  life  does  not  depend  upon 
the  mere  strength  of  an  argument.  As  Christians, 
we  believe  in  immortality  because  Jesus  Christ,  who 
came  out  from  God,  bringing  with  him  the  disclos- 
ure of  the  eternal  will  of  God,  hath  abolished  death 
and  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light.  Upon 
this  Rock  we  build  our  hopes.  The  question  pro- 
posed now  is,  Is  this  doctrine  of  Christianity  credi- 
ble and  reasonable?  Are  they  not  irrational  who 
question  and  deny  this  great  truth  ? We  teach  that 
this  doctrine  is  confirmed  by  the  highest  reason, 
that  it  is  in  harmony  with  a spiritual  interpre- 
tation of  nature,  and  that  it  is  in  sympathy  with 
the  indisputable  facts  of  man’s  manifold  being. 

There  is  one  preliminary  consideration  worthy  of 
serious  attention  as  we  enter  upon  our  study  of  this 
subject,  and  that  is  the  impossibility  of  establishing 
the  negative  proposition.  No  man  now  living,  and 
no  man  who  ever  will  live,  can  show  that  there  is 
no  future  life  for  the  soul.  It  is  both  physically  and 
intellectually  impossible. 

I.  Before  it  can  be  declared  with  any  degree  of 
confidence,  or,  rather,  before  it  can  be  declared 
without  the  most  arrogant  intellectual  presump- 
tion, that  the  immortal  life  of  the  soul  is  a dream 
and  a fancy,  the  entire  universe  of  God  must  be 
exhaustively  explored.  No  man  can  declare  that 
disembodied  spirits  do  not  exist  until  he  has  pene- 
trated into  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  universe 
and  found  no  such  spirits.  He  must  be  able  to  show 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 263 

that  no  such  forms  of  life  have  an  existence,  and  he 
must  be  able  to  show  it  in  an  entirely  satisfactory 
manner.  His  exploration  of  the  universe  must  not 
be  partial,  it  must  be  exhaustive.  He  must  be  able 
to  scale  its  inaccessible  heights,  to  sound  its  un- 
fathomable depths,  to  measure  all  its  infinite  spaces, 
before  he  can  be  even  a competent  witness.  He 
must  have  visited  and  have  scrutinized  every  por- 
tion of  the  creation  of  Almighty  God.  Not  our 
earth,  and  sun,  and  system  only,  not  the  planetary 
spaces  only,  not  the  fixed  stars  only,  not  the  stellar 
spaces  only,  not  the  Milky  Way  only,  but  all  suns, 
all  stars,  all  nebulae,  all  space.  It  will  not  do  for 
this  explorer  to  return  after  having  visited  ninety- 
nine  parts  of  the  universe,  and  declare  that  no  dis- 
embodied souls  can  be  found,  for  they  may  have 
their  dwelling-place  in  the  one  part  unvisited  and 
unexplored.  Nothing  short  of  an  exhaustive  ex- 
ploration of  the  universe  would  justify  the  denial 
of  the  existence  of  glorified  human  spirits.  But 
such  an  exploration  is  physically  impossible.  The 
universe,  like  its  majestic  and  inscrutable  Author,  is 
infinite  and  unsearchable.  No  man  now  living,  no 
man  who  ever  will  live,  can  explore  and  exhaust  the 
infinite  creation  of  the  infinite  God. 

2.  But  suppose  such  an  exploration  could  actu- 
ally be  made.  The  declaration  of  the  explorer  that 
he  found  no  translated  and  disenthralled  souls  of 
men  would  not  justify  the  conclusion  that  no  such 
souls  existed.  It  is  possible,  yea,  it  is  highly  proba- 
ble, that  he  would  not  be  possessed  of  powers  and 


264 


Christian  Manliness . 


faculties  sufficiently  fine  and  discriminating  to  en- 
able him  to  perceive,  discern,  or  touch  a spirit. 
Philosophers  generally  concede  that  matter  pos- 
sesses, or  may  possess,  many  qualities  of  which  we 
are  at  present  ignorant,  on  account  of  the  grossness 
and  heaviness  of  our  faculties.  If  we  had  finer, 
sharper,  more  penetrating  powers,  we  might  be  able 
greatly  to  extend  our  list  of  the  qualities  and  prop- 
erties of  matter.  As,  by  practice,  we  whet  and 
sharpen  our  faculties,  as  we  improve  the  instruments 
we  employ  in  the  study  of  matter,  new  and  aston- 
ishing discoveries  are  made  of  its  qualities  and  pow- 
ers. Now,  if  our  faculties  are  too  gross  and  heavy 
to  perceive  all  the  qualities  of  matter,  is  it  at  all 
probable  that  they  are  sufficiently  fine  and  power- 
ful to  discern  disembodied  spirits?  We  know  noth- 
ing of  the  forms,  modes,  activities  of  spirit  life.  We 
can  form  no  tangible  or  sensible  conception  of  a 
pure  spirit.  We  know  very  little  of  mind  or  spirit, 
even  when  localized  in  matter.  We  know  nothing 
at  all  about  it  when,  separated  from  matter,  it  is  free 
and  untrammeled.  Spirits  may  be  near  us,  or  they 
may  be  afar  off.  We  know  nothing  of  their  mode  of 
life  or  locomotion.  The  spirit  life  may  be  as  near  to 
our  life  as  the  waves  of  the  ocean  to  the  shore,  or  it 
may  be  removed  from  us  at  an  immeasurable  and 
inconceivable  distance.  Spirits  elude  the  grasp  of 
all  our  faculties.  They  are  too  unworldly,  too  sub- 
tle, too  ethereal,  to  readily  surrender  themselves  to 
our  examination.  Now  our  explorer  might  have 
visited  the  outermost  confines  of  creation,  he  might 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 265 

have  carefully  scrutinized  all  the  intervening  spaces, 
but  how  convincing  would  be  his  testimony  ? The 
question  would  immediately  arise,  Did  he  possess 
the  faculties  requisite  for  the  discernment  of  a 
spirit?  He  may  have  traveled  through  densely 
peopled  regions  of  spirits,  and  missed  them  all  be- 
cause of  coarseness  of  faculty.  If  his  powers  had 
been  finer  and  sharper,  he  might,  perhaps,  have  dis- 
covered spirits.  His  testimony  would,  therefore, 
be  valueless ; at  least,  it  could  not  be  decisive  of  a 
question  of  such  profound  importance. 

Whoever  would  successfully  deny  the  existence 
of  a future  state  must  possess  perfect  faculties,  and 
the  power  to  visit  and  examine  the  entire  material 
universe.  Now,  no  man  possesses  either;  no  man 
ever  will  possess  either.  Therefore,  it  is  impossible 
for  any  man  ever  to  prove  that  there  is  no  future 
life. 

The  negative  being  impossible  to  establish,  let 
us  inquire  into  the  reasonableness  of  the  affirm- 
ative. 

1.  A strong  presumption  in  favor  of  immortality 
is  raised  by  the  significance  of  the  universal  longing 
after  it.  The  fact  that  all  men  have  longed  for  a 
future  life  is  not  denied.  Their  conceptions  of  the 
hereafter  may  often  have  been  crude,  coarse,  bar- 
baric, materialistic.  Very  few  of  the  elements  of 
immortality  as  we  conceive  of  it  may  have  entered 
into  the  minds  of  savage  men.  Nevertheless,  the 
savage  has  longed  for  a new  life  in  the  dim  here- 
after. This  longing  has  been  universal.  The  great 


266 


Christian  Manliness . 


and  the  humble,  the  cultured  and  the  coarse,  the 
gifted  and  the  stolid,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the 
strong  and  the  weak,  the  scholar  and  the  boor,  the 
king  and  the  slave,  the  poet  and  the  hod-carrier, 
the  Greek  poet  and  the  sensuous  barbarian,  the 
English  philosopher  and  the  negroes  of  equatorial 
Africa,  have  all  alike  looked  up  to  the  stars  and 
longed  for  a home  beyond  them.  To  the  reflective 
and  thoughtful  mind  this  fact  is  full  of  significance, 
suggestion,  and  prophecy.  By  this  fact  the  race 
has  all  along  been  testifying  to  its  sense  of  the  nar- 
rowness, the  incompleteness,  and  the  defectiveness 
of  the  present  life,  and  the  eminent  desirableness  of 
another  life  where  all  things  shall  be  rounded  out  to 
completeness,  wholeness,  and  harmony.  Has  the 
race  been  mistaken?  Is  this  life  a perfect  one?  Is 
there  nothing  fragmentary  about  it?  Do  we  not 
feel  that  it  is  incomplete?  With  all  its  joy,  and 
beauty,  and  work,  and  growth,  and  culture,  and 
love,  are  we  not  perpetually  dreaming  of  a life  more 
joyous,  with  a finer,  loftier,  richer  beauty,  with 
frictionless  work,  with  more  rapid  growth,  with  a 
more  genial  and  perfect  culture,  with  a higher  and 
less  selfish  love?  Here,  then,  is  a race,  confessedly 
imperfect,  longing  with  passionate  fervor  for  perfec- 
tion, and,  if  death  destroys  our  being,  heartlessly 
denied  this  perfection  by  the  very  Being  who  him- 
self implanted  the  desire.  For,  if  man  is  not  to 
complete  this  life  hereafter,  why  was  he  created 
capable  of  conceiving  of  a hereafter?  Why  should 
he  be  endowed  with  this  fervor  of  perfection  if  it  is 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 267 

never  to  be  realized?  If  death  ends  all,  and  justice 
is  to  be  done,  man  should  have  been  so  constituted 
as  not  to  be  able  to  peer  anxiously  into  the  future 
in  the  vain  hope  that  the  bright,  consummate 
flower  of  existence  should  then  unfold  in  perfect 
beauty.  God  is  not  to  be  charged  with  the  infinite 
cruelty  of  thus  mocking,  baffling,  and  cheating  the 
whole  human  race.  The  very  outreach  of  our  souls 
after  immortality  is,  under  the  rule  of  a moral 
Deity,  a pledge  and  a prophecy  that  the  coveted 
destiny  shall  be  ours. 

2.  The  desire  for  immortality  grows  in  fineness, 
purity,  fervency,  and  power  with  the  advancing  in- 
telligence and  increasing  culture  of  the  human  race. 
This  desire  was  not  one  of  the  world’s  childhood 
only.  The  world  has  had  its  childhood  beliefs  and 
desires.  In  its  childhood  the  world  believed  that 
every  stream  had  its  naiad  and  every  forest  its 
dryad.  It  believed  that  the  earth  was  a flat  sur- 
face, that  the  sun  was  a comparatively  insignificant 
body,  and  that  it  moved  round  the  earth  as  its 
humble  servant.  It  believed  that  the  earth  was 
made  in  six  literal  days  of  twenty-four  hours  each. 
All  these  beliefs,  and  many  similar  ones,  the  world 
has  outgrown,  or  is  rapidly  outgrowing.  It  is  true, 
also,  that  in  the  world’s  childhood  men  believed  in 
immortality.  The  early  man,  wandering  from 
pasture  to  pasture  with  his  flock  of  sheep  and  goats, 
was  also  seeking  a better  country,  that  is,  a heav- 
enly. Scarce  ever  did  the  homeless  pilgrim,  in  the 

freshness  of  the  early  dawn,  strike  his  tent,  and 
18 


268 


Christian  Manliness . 


prepare  for  another  day’s  march,  that  he  did  not 
yearn  for  a permanent  home  ; that  he  did  not  long 
for  the  air  of  a bright  eternal  morning;  that  he  did 
not  dream  of  a city  which  had  foundations,  whose 
maker  and  builder  was  God  ! But  the  world  has 
not  outgrown  its  early  faith  in,  and  passionate  long- 
ing for,  a life  free  from  evil,  pain,  and  strife.  Now 
in  its  manhood,  strong,  vigorous,  aggressive,  its 
faith  in  a compensating  future  is  more  vitalizing  and 
tenacious  than  ever.  Nor  is  it  true  that  this  desire 
has  been  confined  to  ignorant,  timid,  slavish, 
and  superstitious  peoples.  The  lowly,  the  crude, 
the  undeveloped,  the  uncivilized,  have,  indeed,  de- 
sired this  precious  boon.  They  have  hoped  that 
heaven  would  right  the  wrongs  of  earth,  and  they 
have  waited  with  patience  and  hope  for  the  right- 
eous and  solemn  retributions  of  eternity.  The  un- 
tutored savage  of  the  tropical  forests,  the  serpent 
worshiper  of  Bengal,  the  wild  red  man,  who  once 
proudly  claimed  this  continent  as  his  own,  all  have 
sought  with  avidity  the  rounding  out  of  their  being 
in  a more  congenial  clime.  So  have  the  choicest 
spirits  of  the  race.  Abraham,  Moses,  Job,  Isaiah, 
Paul,  Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  Demosthenes, 
Aeschylus,  Seneca,  Cicero,  Marcus  Aurelius,  Epic- 
tetus, Dante,  Da  Vinci,  Goethe,  Schiller,  Jean  Paul, 
Lessing,  Kant,  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Haydn,  Han- 
del, Mozart,  Beethoven,  Addison,  Johnson,  Cow- 
per,  Burke,  Macaulay,  Froude,  Tennyson,  and 
Buckle,  all  have  desired  immortality.  As  life  grows 
in  complexity,  as  men  more  and  more  come  to 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 269 

themselves,  as  our  wants  increase,  as  our  channels 
of  pleasure  and  sources  of  culture  multiply,  as  all 
our  faculties  become  finer,  sharper,  more  distinct, 
and  more  fruitful — in  short,  as  man  advances  toward 
the  ripeness  and  consummation  of  his  being — the 
desire  fora  freer,  fuller,  ampler  life  grows  in  fervency 
and  power.  The  more  a man  becomes  a man,  the 
greater  is  his  dread  of  extinction.  The  growth  of 
the  race,  the  increase  and  enlargement  of  its  knowl- 
edge, is,  and  ever  has  been,  accompanied  by  an  in- 
crease of  desire  for  immortality.  And  what  is  true 
of  the  race  is  true  also  of  the  individual.  To  deny 
immortality  is  evidence  of  immaturity,  of  super- 
ficiality, of  lack  of  depth  and  patience  of  thought. 
Intellectual  growth  is  almost  invariably  marked  by 
a rejection  of  materialism,  and  the  gradual  accept- 
ance of  the  great  truth  that  spirit  forces  are  supreme 
in  the  universe.  Bryant  at  nineteen  did  not  sing 
of  immortality  as  he  did  at  eighty-two.  Here  is 
the  doubting,  hesitating,  almost  pagan  poetry  of 
his  youth  : 

“ So  live,  that  when  thy  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan  which  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 

Thou  go  not,  like  the  quarry-slave  at  night, 

Scourged  to  his  dungeon,  but,  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams.” 

Here  is  the  high  and  solemn  hope  that  animated 
his  verse  at  eighty-two: 


270 


Christian  Manliness . 


“What  is  there  beyond  ? 
Hear  what  the  wise  and  good  have  said.  Beyond 
That  belt  of  darkness  still  the  years  roll  on, 

More  gently,  but  with  not  less  mighty  sweep. 

They  gather  up  again  and  softly  bear 

All  the  sweet  lives  that  late  were  overwhelmed 

And  lost  to  sight,  all  that  in  them  was  good, 

Noble,  and  truly  great,  and  worthy  love, 

The  lives  of  infants  and  ingenious  youths, 

Sages  and  saintly  women  who  have  made 
Their  households  happy ; all  are  raised  and  borne 
By  that  great  current  in  its  onward  sweep, 
Wandering  and  rippling  with  caressing  waves 
Around  green  islands  fragrant  with  the  breath 
Of  flowers  that  never  wither.  So  they  pass 
From  stage  to  stage  along  the  shining  course 
Of  that  bright  river,  broadening  like  a sea. 

As  its  smooth  eddies  curl  along  their  way 
They  bring  old  friends  together;  hands  are  clasped 
In  joy  unspeakable  ; the  mother’s  arms 
Again  are  folded  round  the  child  she  loved 
And  lost.  Old  sorrows  are  forgotten  now, 

Or  but  remembered  to  make  sweet  the  hour 
That  overpays  them  ; wounded  hearts  that  bled 
Or  broke  are  healed  forever.  In  the  room 
Of  this  grief-shadowed  present,  there  shall  be 
A present  in  whose  reign  no  grief  shall  gnaw 
The  heart,  and  never  shall  a tender  tie 
Be  broken  ; in  whose  reign  the  Eternal  Change 
That  waits  on  growth  and  action  shall  proceed 
With  everlasting  Concord  hand  in  hand.” 


Victor  Hugo,  after  threescore  and  ten  years  of 
life,  in  the  ripeness  and  maturity  of  his  splendid 
genius,  thus  proclaims  the  moral  necessity  of  im- 
mortality : 

“ What  is  it  which  alleviates  and  which  sanctifies 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 271 

toil,  which  renders  men  strong,  wise,  patient,  just, 
at  once,  humble  and  aspiring,  but  the  perpetual 
vision  of  a better  worlds  whose  light  shines 
through  the  darkness  of  the  present  life?  For 
myself,  I believe  profoundly  in  that  better  world ; 
and,  after  many  struggles,  much  study,  and  num- 
berless trials,  this  is  the  supreme  conviction  of 
my  reason,  as  it  is  the  supreme  consolation  of  my 
SOul.” 

Hear  him  speak  again  at  a time  when  he  was 
rejoicing  in  the  fullness  of  all  his  powers: 

“ I feel  in  myself  the  future  life.  I am  like  a forest 
once  cut  down.  The  new  shoots  are  stronger  and 
livelier  than  ever.  I am  rising,  I know,  toward  the 
sky.  The  sunshine  is  on  my  head.  The  earth  gives 
me  its  generous  sap,  but  heaven  lights  me  with  the 
reflection  of  unknown  worlds.  You  say  the  soul  is 
nothing  but  the  resultant  of  bodily  powers.  Why, 
then,  is  my  soul  more  luminous  when  my  bodily 
powers  begin  to  fail?  Winter  is  on  my  head,  but 
eternal  spring  is  in  my  heart.  There  I breathe  at 
this  hour  the  fragrance  of  the  lilacs,  the  violets,  and 
the  roses,  as  at  twenty  years.  The  nearer  I ap- 
proach the  end,  the  plainer  I hear  around  me  the 
immortal  symphonies  of  the  worlds  which  invite 
me.  It  is  marvelous,  yet  simple.  It  is  a fairy  tale, 
and  it  is  history.  For  half  a century  I have  been 
writing  my  thoughts  in  prose  and  verse,  history, 
philosophy,  drama,  romance,  tradition,  satire,  ode, 
and  song — I have  tried  all.  But  I feel  I have  not 
said  the  thousandth  part  of  what  is  in  me.  When 


272 


Christian  Manliness . 


I go  down  to  the  grave,  I can  say,  like  so  many 
others,  ‘ I have  finished  my  day’s  work,’  but  I can- 
not say,  ‘ I have  finished  my  life.’  My  day’s  work 
will  begin  again  the  next  morning.  The  tomb  is 
not  a blind  alley;  it  is  a thoroughfare.  It  closes 
on  the  twilight  to  open  with  the  dawn.” 

3.  The  Christian  doctrine  of  a future  life  is  most 
rational,  most  satisfying,  most  certain  in  the  soul’s 
purest,  noblest,  most  unselfish,  most  unworldly 
hours;  while  it  is  dim,  shadowy,  uncertain,  unreal 
when  we  are  disloyal,  disobedient,  selfish,  worldly, 
and  impure.  There  is  a Garden  of  Eden  in  every 
man’s  life,  and  in  that  garden  stands  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  The  tempter  whis- 
pers to  us  that  we  shall  not  die  if  we  eat  the  fruit, 
but  that  we  shall  become  as  gods ; strong,  wise,  and 
powerful.  Every  man  listens  to  that  voice,  and  at 
some  time  or  other  every  man  hearkens  to  it,  but, 
instead  of  the  promised  increase  of  knowledge, 
disobedience  is  followed  by  blindness,  confusion, 
and  sorrow.  To  drop  the  figure,  in  this  life  we  all 
have  experiences  of  evil.  We  are  disloyal  to  the 
highest  right  we  know.  We  do  not  always  obey 
the  faithful  and  friendly  monitions  of  conscience. 
We  are  at  times  grossly  selfish.  We  become 
worldly,  secular-minded,  sacrificing  principle  to 
policy,  right  to  expediency.  Now,  if  you  will  take 
care  to  analyze  your  moral  state  after  you  have 
done  wrong  ; when  you  have  been  insincere,  selfish, 
envious,  grasping,  merciless,  prayerless ; when  you 
have  given  the  reins  to  the  lower  and  baser  nature; 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality.  273 

when  you  have  endeavored  to  stifle  the  voice  of 
conscience — if,  after  passing  through  such  experi- 
ences, you  will  question  yourself  as  to  the  soul’s 
immortality,  that  great  and  precious  truth  will  seem 
to  you  shadowy,  dim,  uncertain.  It  is  a statement 
that  every  man  may  verify  in  his  own  experience, 
that  wrong-doing,  evil  dispositions  and  habits, 
weaken  the  force  of  the  evidence  for  the  future  life 
of  the  soul.  A man’s  moral  state  often  deter- 
mines whether  he  is  pervious  or  impervious  to  the 
truth. 

We  are  the  subjects  of  goodness,  however,  as 
well  as  of  evil.  We  do  not  always  obey  the  voice 
of  the  insidious  tempter.  We  are  capable  of  resist- 
ing, and  we  do  often  actually  resist  and  conquer 
temptation.  We  have  dared  to  do  right  sometimes 
in  the  face  of  tremendous  odds.  We  have  indig- 
nantly trampled  beneath  our  feet  the  seductive  bait 
of  evil.  We  have  compelled  our  lower  nature  to 
serve  our  higher  nature.  We  have  attently  list- 
ened for  the  commands  of  conscience,  and,  hearing, 
we  have  instantly  and  gladly  obeyed.  We  have 
been  merciful  when  we  were  tempted  to  strike,  and 
when  our  victim  was  in  our  power.  We  have  been 
patient  under  the  most  severe  provocation.  We 
have  deliberately  yielded  our  cherished  desires  and 
plans,  to  serve  and  bless  others  when  they  were  in- 
capable of  fully  appreciating  the  sacrifices  we  were 
making  in  their  behalf.  After  all  such  experiences 
immortality  seemed  to  be  the  natural  destiny  of 
the  soul.  We  felt  within  us  the  beginnings  of  that 


2;4 


Christian  Manliness . 


eternal  life  of  which  Christ  spoke.  Clear,  strong, 
certain,  satisfying,  seemed  to  be  the  evidences  of 
the  soul’s  supremacy  over  death.  The  bare  sugges- 
tion of  annihilation  sent  an  icy  shudder  through 
the  soul.  We  recoiled  at  the  thought  of  it.  We 
felt  ourselves  to  be  allied  to  God  and  the  invisible 
world  by  an  imperishable  bond.  Nothing  could 
shake  our  faith  in  the  soul's  celestial  and  spiritual 
destiny.  Goodness,  purity,  loyalty  of  soul,  is  the 
unfailing  condition  of  apprehending  the  highest 
spiritual  and  religious  truth. 

The  question  arises,  in  view  of  these  facts,  shall 
we  take  the  verdict  of  our  higher  or  of  our  lower 
natures?  Shall  we  take  counsel  of  that  which  is 
good  or  of  that  which  is  evil  in  us?  Shall  we  learn 
from  that  which  is  best  or  from  that  which  is  worst 
in  us?  If  we  accept  the  verdict  of  our  highest, 
finest,  noblest  faculties,  we  must  accept,  and  we 
will  accept,  the  Christian  doctrine  of  a future  life. 
They  bring  no  uncertain,  hesitating  report  on  this 
subject.  Distinctly  and  emphatically  do  they  con- 
firm the  teaching  of  revelation  that  there  is  for  us 
an  inheritance  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that 
fadeth  not  away.  It  cannot  be  possible  that  our 
highest  and  best  faculties  were  made  on  purpose  to 
deceive  us.  Then  our  whole  nature  is  a lie,  and 
God  himself  is  found  untrue.  If  the  moral  and 
spiritual  powers  in  us  were  constructed  to  mislead 
and  lie  to  us  we  are  in  a bewildering  maze,  and 
there  is  no  solid  ground  upon  which  we  may  plant 
our  feet.  Truth  is  clean  gone  forever,  and  we  are 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 275 

in  an  endless  labyrinth  of  error.  Our  moral  and 
spiritual  powers  must,  therefore,  be  reliable  and 
trustworthy,  and  they,  at  their  best  estate,  in  ex- 
plicit and  solemn  language,  declare  that  man  is 
destined  to  rise  to  a glorious  immortality. 

A man  is  out  on  the  mountains  in  a black, 
stormy  night.  The  rain  pours  in  torrents.  He 
cannot  see  six  inches  ahead  of  him.  He  is  a 
stranger,  and  has  never  traveled  the  road  before, 
A single  false  step  and  he  may  be  dashed  down  a 
precipice  of  five  hundred  feet.  But  ever  and  anon 
there  are  broad,  vivid  sheets  of  lightning,  and  they 
reveal  to  him  the  direction  of  the  narrow,  winding 
mountain  road.  What  if  he  should  shut  his  eyes 
when  the  lightning  flashes?  He  would  surely  lose 
his  way  and  be  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  rocks  be- 
low. In  the  dark  and  troublous  and  perplexing 
ways  of  this  life,  God,  by  the  supremacy  of  our 
moral  natures,  gives  us  light  and  direction.  Let 
us  thankfully  accept  and  loyally  follow  this  light. 
It  will  lead  us  safely  through  all  the  devious  paths 
of  this  mortal  pilgrimage,  and  finally  conduct  us  to 
the  celestial  city. 


2 y6 


Christian  Manliness. 


THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  IMMOR- 
TALITY. 


ii. 


If  a man  die,  shall  he  live  again  ? — Job  xiv,  14. 

We  are  considering  the  reasonableness  of  the 
Christian  doctrine  of  a future  life.  The  Christian 
does  not  rest  his  hope  of  survival  ofter  death  upon 
the  mere  suggestions  of  nature  and  reason.  These 
suggestions  may  serve  to  confirm  that  hope,  but 
they  do  not  in  the  first  instance  produce  it.  We 
believe  in  the  future  life  of  the  soul,  because  Jesus 
Christ,  who  came  out  from  God,  bringing  with  him 
the  secrets  of  eternity,  revealed  to  us  the  great 
truth  that  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life.  He  abol- 
ished death,  and  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light.  Because  he  lives,  we  shall  live  also. 

It  may,  however,  in  an  age  of  doubts  and  ques- 
tionings, become  the  duty  of  the  Christian  apologist 
to  show  that  this  doctrine  is  in  nowise  repugnant  to 
reason,  or  contradictory  of  the  facts  of  man's  mani- 
fold being.  My  purpose,  then,  is  not  to  attempt  to 
prove  that  the  soul  is  immortal,  but  to  show  that 
the  Christian  doctrine  of  immortality  is  reasonable, 
and  not  to  be  rejected  as  unworthy  of  belief  on  any 
a priori  grounds. 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 277 

1.  The  belief  in  immortality  is  reasonable  in  the 
light  of  the  nature  and  powers  of  man.  Practical 
scientific  men  are  accustomed  to  reproach  Christian 
thinkers  for  lightly  esteeming  man’s  physical  nat- 
ure, for  failing  to  recognize  and  obey  the  laws  of 
man’s  physical  constitution.  The  one-sidedness  of 
the  Christian  is  in  this  respect  fully  matched  by  the 
one-sidedness  of  the  practical  scientist.  He  is  dis- 
posed to  spend  all  his  time  and  exert  all  his  ener- 
gies in  the  study  of  man’s  physical  organism.  If 
you  read  Dr.  Carpenter  on  the  brain  you  will  feel 
for  the  hour  that  man  is  nothing  but  a retort,  into 
which  various  chemical  elements  are  mingled  and 
by  certain  physical  processes  converted  into  cere- 
bral matter.  This  cerebral  matter,  in  turn,  by  some 
occult  and  inexplicable  process,  manufactures 
thought,  emotion,  volition,  orations,  histories, 
essays,  poetry,  and  scientific  treatises.  But  surely 
there  is  something  else  of  man  besides  muscles, 
and  nerves,  and  bones,  and  tendons,  and  sinews, 
and  ligaments,  and  veins,  and  arteries,  and  cerebral 
matter.  Man  does  something  else  than  eat,  and 
drink,  and  digest,  and  assimilate,  and  walk,  and 
breathe,  and  talk,  and  perform  various  physical 
processes.  “ There  is  a spirit  in  man,  and  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Almighty  giveth  him  understand- 
ing.” He  observes,  he  perceives,  he  reflects,  he 
compares,  he  reasons,  he  generalizes,  he  invents, 
he  creates,  he  conceives,  he  imagines,  he  remem- 
bers, he  is  the  subject  of  a large  number  of  purely 
intellectual  processes.  Nor  have  you  exhausted 


278  Christian  Manliness . 

the  catalogue  of  his  powers  when  you  have  enu- 
merated and  analyzed  his  intellectual  faculties.  He 
has  emotions,  desires,  affections,  yearnings,  aspira- 
tions. He  loves  and  he  hates,  he  is  sad  and  he  is 
glad,  mighty  tides  of  emotion  sometimes  convulse, 
sometime  clarify  and  uplift,  his  being ; he  has  a 
sense  of  the  beautiful,  of  the  grand,  of  the  sublime; 
above  all,  he  possesses  the  power  to  perceive  moral 
qualities  in  actions  and  to  feel  the  obligatoriness 
of  duty.  Physiology  is  a noble  study,  but  it  does 
not  exhaust  the  knowledge  of  man.  In  the  name 
of  science,  as  well  as  of  reason  and  religion,  we 
must  demand  psychology  as  the  complement  of 
physiology.  No  philosophy  of  man  can  be  con- 
structed which  does  not  include  all  the  facts  and 
powers  of  his  nature. 

Consider  some  of  the  more  noble  and  spiritually 
prophetic  attributes  of  man’s  nature.  We  speak  of 
man  as  being  capable  of  goodness,  wisdom,  justice, 
truth,  love,  and  holiness.  It  is  an  indisputable  fact 
that  these  qualities  do  actually  belong  to  man. 
Man  is  capable  of  goodness,  he  is  capable  of  justice, 
he  is  capable  of  truth,  he  is  capable  of  love.  He 
knows  in  some  proper  sense  what  justice  is,  and  he 
can  himself  pursue  such  a course  of  conduct  as  to 
entitle  him  to  be  described  as  a just  man,  or  a man 
of  justice.  He  knows  what  holiness  is,  and  he  is 
capable  of  becoming,  in  a certain  sense,  holy,  so 
that  he  may  truthfully  be  described  as  a holy 
man.  But  these  qualities,  or  attributes,  are  very 
high,  significant,  and  noble  ones.  They  are  the 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 279 

qualities  and  attributes  which  we  ascribe  to  the 
Supreme  Being.  We  speak  of  God  as  good,  as  pure, 
as  holy,  as  just,  as  true.  Justice,  holiness,  recti- 
tude, love,  purity — these  are  the  moral  attributes 
of  God.  It  is  true,  they  exist  in  him  in  infinite 
amplitude,  scope,  power,  and  richness,  far  transcend- 
ing all  our  present  power  of  thought  and  conception. 
But  justice  in  God  can  only  be  a glorified  and  in- 
finite form  of  the  justice  which  we  find  in  man. 
It  differs  in  degree  ; it  cannot  differ  in  kind.  If  jus- 
tice in  the  Divine  Being  is  something  other  and 
different  in  kind,  in  quality,  in  essence,  from  justice 
in  man,  then  man  does  not  really  know  what  jus- 
tice is,  for  it  is  only  by  the  germ  of  justice  in  his 
own  breast  that  he  can  interpret  justice  in  God. 
There  are  not  two  kinds  of  justice — human  justice 
and  divine  justice.  Justice  is  a quality  of  moral 
conduct,  and  in  its  essential  nature  and  disposition 
must  be  the  same  every-where.  In  one  nature  it 
may  be  feeble,  imperfect,  varying,  in  another 
strong,  steady,  constant,  in  still  another  infinite  and 
unsearchable,  but  still  it  is  justice.  Justice  in  man, 
therefore,  is,  in  germ  form,  the  same  justice  that  in 
glowing  and  glorious  perfection  resides  in  the  heart 
of  God.  Love  in  man  is  a true  type  of  love  in  God. 
With  us  love  may  be  but  as  a drop  of  water,  with 
God  it  is  a mighty  ocean;  but  it  is  love  alike  in  his 
and  the  human  heart. 

Man,  then,  is  now  actually  possessed  of  GOD- 
LIKE powers,  qualities,  dispositions,  and  attributes. 
He  does  actually  partake  of  the  divine  nature. 


280 


Christian  Manliness . 


He  is  allied  to  God  by  identity  of  moral  capacity. 
His  nature  is  high,  noble,  spiritual,  prophetic  of 
divinity.  Now,  if  man  with  these  powers  be  mor- 
tal and  perishable,  if  with  such  capacities  death 
shall  utterly  annihilate  him,  he  is  surely  a waste  of 
creative  power ; he  has  been  far  too  highly  equipped 
for  his  miserable  destiny.  Why  load  the  ship 
with  such  a precious  cargo,  if  it  be  known  before- 
hand that  it  must  be  wrecked,  and  every  thing  be 
lost  ? Why  endow  man  with  the  capacities  and 
powers  of  a god,  and  then  give  him  the  destiny  of 
the  worm?  In  the  language  of  the  great  Robert 
Hall,  “ man,  considered  apart  from  his  immortality, 
is  the  vainest  thing  under  the  sun.”  The  white 
elephants  of  India  are  said  to  attain  the  age  of  a 
hundred  years.  The  average  age  of  man  is  thirty- 
three  years.  If  the  elephant  with  his  powers  is 
given  a life  of  a century,  and  the  man  with  his  pow- 
ers but  the  third  of  a century,  creation  is  more  than 
a mystery — it  is  a horrible  imposture,  a cruel  lie. 
There  are  oak-trees  in  England  twelve  centuries 
old.  They  were  there  when  Harold  fell  at  Hast- 
ings, and  William  the  Conqueror  introduced  the 
Normans.  Through  all  the  vicissitudes  and  glories 
of  English  history  they  have  stood  as  silent  remem- 
brancers of  the  past.  Thirty-six  generations  of  chil- 
dren have  laughed  and  played  beneath  their  wide- 
spreading  boughs.  In  the  meantime,  what  a gai- 
axy  of  illustrious  names  has  arisen  in  the  English 
firmament.  What  a noble  host  of  geniuses  has  been 
reared  on  British  soil.  Chaucer,  and  Spenser,  and 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 281 

Shakespeare,  and  Milton,  and  Locke,  and  New- 
ton, and  Burke,  and  Chatham,  and  Macaulay; 
Latimer,  Ridley,  Hampden,  Barrow,  Baxter, 
Jeremy  Taylor,  and  Wesley — names  that  stir  our 
sluggish  blood  and  rouse  us  once  more  to  high  em- 
prise of  thought  and  deed — these  all  have  come 
and  gone.  The  quick,  cruel,  and  rapacious  grave 
has  swallowed  them  forever  from  human  sight.  If 
death  ends  all,  if  extinction  was  the  sad  destiny  of 
these  choice  and  gifted  spirits,  then  English  oaks 
have  a grander  sweep  of  being  than  English  men. 
How  anomalous  and  shocking  and  abortive  the 
creation  that  lengthens  out  through  twelve  centu- 
ries the  life  of  an  insensate,  unthinking  tree,  and,  be- 
coming impatient  of  the  splendid  genius  of  the 
thinking  Shakespeare,  stamps  out  his  life  in  fifty 
years!  It  is  to  such  monstrous  suppositions  that 
the  denial  of  the  soul’s  immortality  reduces  us. 
A being  like  man,  capable  of  participating  in  the 
divine  life,  possessed  of  qualities  directly  allying 
him  to  the  invisible  and  intelligent  Creator — such  a 
being,  I affirm,  is  not  to  have  the  destiny  of  the 
worm. 

Henry  Thomas  Buckle  founded  his  belief  in  im- 
mortality on  one  single  capacity  of  man’s  nature; 
namely,  his  power  to  love.  Here  is  his  statement 
of  the  argument : 

“ Look  now  at  the  way  in  which  this  godlike  and 
fundamental  principle  (the  love  principle)  of  our 
nature  acts.  As  long  as  we  are  with  those  whom 
we  love,  and  as  long  as  the  sense  of  security  is  un- 


282 


Christian  Manliness . 


impaired,  we  rejoice,  and  the  remote  consequences 
of  our  love  are  usually  forgotten.  Its  fears  and  its 
risks  are  unheeded.  But  when  the  dark  day  ap- 
proaches, and  the  moment  of  sorrow  is  at  hand, 
other  and  yet  essential  parts  of  our  affection  come 
into  play.  And  if,  perchance,  the  struggle  has  been 
long  and  arduous;  if  we  have  been  tempted  to 
cling  to  hope  when  hope  should  have  been  aban- 
doned, so  much  the  more  are  we  at  the  last  changed 
and  humbled.  To  note  the  slow  but  inevitable 
march  of  disease,  to  watch  the  enemy  stealing  in  at 
the  gate,  to  see  the  strength  gradually  waning,  the 
limbs  tottering  more  and  more,  the  noble  faculties 
dwindling  by  degrees,  the  eye  paling  and  losing  its 
luster,  the  tongue  faltering  as  it  vainly  tries  to  utter 
its  words  of  endearment,  the  very  lips  hardly  able 
to  smile  with  their  wonted  tenderness — to  see  this 
is  hard  indeed  to  bear,  and  many  of  the  strongest 
natures  have  sunk  under  it.  But  when  even  this  is 
gone,  when  the  very  signs  of  life  are  mute,  when 
the  last  faint  tie  is  severed,  and  there  lies  before  us 
naught  save  the  shell  and  husk  of  what  we  loved 
too  well,  then  truly,  if  we  believed  the  separation 
were  final,  how  could  we  stand  up  and  live?  We 
have  staked  all  upon  a single  cast,  and  lost  the 
stake.  There,  where  we  have  garnered  up  our 
hearts,  and  where  our  treasure  is,  thieves  break  in 
and  spoil.  Methinks  that  in  that  moment  of  deso- 
lation the  best  of  us  would  succumb  but  for  the 
deep  conviction  that  all  is  not  really  over,  that  we 
have  as  yet  only  seen  a part,  and  that  something 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 283 

remains  behind;  something  behind  — something 
which  the  eye  of  reason  cannot  discern,  but  on 
which  the  eye  of  affection  is  fixed.  What  is  that 
which,  passing  over  us  like  a shadow,  strains  the 
aching  vision  as  we  gaze  at  it  ? Whence  comes  that 
sense  of  mysterious  companionship  in  the  midst  of 
solitude,  that  ineffable  feeling  which  cheers  the 
afflicted?  Why  is  it  that,  at  these  times,  our 
minds  are  thrown  back  on  themselves,  and,  being  so 
thrown,  have  a forecast  of  another  and  a higher 
state?  If  this  be  a delusion  it  is  one  which  the 
affections  have  themselves  created,  and  we  must  be- 
lieve that  the  purest  and  noblest  elements  of  our 
nature  conspire  to  deceive  us.  . . . It  is,  then,  to 
that  sense  of  immortality  with  which  the  affections 
inspire  us,  that  I would  appeal  for  the  best  proof 
of  the  reality  of  a future  life.” 

To  the  same  effect  is  the  following  quotation  from 
the  brilliant  and  eloquent  pen  of  the  late  George  D. 
Prentice : “ Men  seldom  think  of  the  great  event 

of  death  until  the  shadow  falls  across  their  own 
pathway,  hiding  from  their  eyes  the  face  of  loved 
ones  whose  loving  smile  was  the  sunlight  of  their 
existence.  Death  is  the  antagonist  of  life  and  the 
cool  thought  of  the  tomb  is  the  skeleton  of  all  fears. 
We  do  not  want  to  go  through  the  dark  valley,  al- 
though its  dark  passage  may  lead  to  the  grave,  even 
with  princes  for  bed-fellows.”  The  same  truth,  name- 
ly, that  the  human  spirit  is  too  rich  in  its  treasures 
of  love  ever  to  be  destroyed  .by  death,  finds  beauti- 
ful expression  in  Talfourd’s  exquisite  drama  of  Ion . 

19 


284 


Christian  Manliness . 


The  hope  of  immortality  there  so  eloquently  uttered 
by  the  death-devoted  Greek  finds  deep  responses 
in  every  thoughtful  soul.  When  about  to  yield  his 
young  existence  as  a sacrifice  to  fate,  his  Clemantha 
asks  him  if  they  should  ever  meet  again,  to  which 
he  replies:  “I  have  asked  that  dreadful  question 

of  the  hills  that  looked  eternal,  of  the  clear  streams 
that  flow  forever,  of  the  stars  among  whose  fields 
of  azure  my  raised  spirit  has  walked  in  glory.  All 
were  dumb.  But  when  I gaze  upon  thy  living  face 
I feel  that  there  is  something  in  the  love  that  man- 
tles its  beauty  that  cannot  wholly  perish.  We  shall 
meet  again,  Clemantha.” 

2.  It  is  an  easy  and  natural  transition  from  these 
thoughts  to  the  next  line  of  suggestion  and  argu- 
ment— that  is,  that  the  infinite  love  of  the  Author 
of  the  universe  renders  reasonable  a serene  faith  in 
immortality.  Man  has  more  than  intellect ; he  has 
heart.  Richly  equipped  as  he  is  in  purely  intellect- 
ual faculties,  he  is  even  more  magnificently  endowed 
in  his  affectional  nature.  His  knowledge  may  be 
partial  and  fragmentary,  his  logic  faulty,  his  general- 
izations hasty,  his  conclusions  inaccurate  and  unre- 
liable, but  his  love  is  immense,  significant,  divine 
almost.  The  power  and  patience  of  human  affec- 
tion, especially  in  woman,  is  indescribable.  A hor- 
rible crime  is  committed  in  the  community.  The 
perpetrator  of  the  foul  deed  is  quickly  arrested, 
tried,  convicted,  sentenced  to  execution.  The  com- 
munity applauds  this  swift  execution  of  justice. 
The  day  of  execution  arrives,  and  in  all  the  crowd 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 285 

surrounding  the  doomed  man  there  is  not  a single 
relenting,  pitying  eye.  But  crouching  yonder  in 
the  shadow  of  the  scaffold  is  a gray-haired  woman. 
It  is  the  criminal's  mother.  She  loves  him  still,  nor 
will  she  ever  cease  to  love  him.  At  her  knee  he  knelt 
in  childhood.  She  solaced  his  early  sorrows.  He 
was  her  hope  and  her  joy.  He  may  be  a murderer, 
the  whole  community  may  have  risen  up  against 
him  in  righteous  indignation,  he  may  have  stepped 
from  the  scaffold  into  eternity,  but  his  image  is  in- 
delibly impressed  upon  her  heart,  and  her  great  love 
is  sure  to  invent  some  extenuation  of  his  awful 
crime.  The  literature  of  love  is  not  written,  save  in 
the  Book  of  God.  The  love  of  a mother,  of  a father, 
of  brother  and  sister,  of  wife  and  husband,  of  friends, 
of  nature,  of  beauty,  of  right,  this  is  the  richest, 
noblest,  divinest  part  of  man.  All  that  is  good  in 
human  history,  all  that  ameliorates,  and  hallows,  and 
sanctifies  the  life  of  to-day,  all  that  presages  the  final 
emancipation  of  humanity  from  the  slavery  of  igno- 
rance, of  sin,  and  of  hate,  is  an  outgrowth  and  devel- 
opment of  pure  and  holy  love. 

All  the  love  that  manifests  itself  in  human  hearts 
is  simply  the  overflow  of  the  love  of  the  divine 
Heart.  This  human  love  must  have  a fountain 
somewhere,  it  must  have  a source.  It  springs  from 
the  inexhaustible  depths  of  the  divine  nature.  Love 
in  man,  the  effect,  argues  love  in  God,  the  cause. 
Love  in  the  being  produced  necessitates  love  in 
the  being  producing.  The  love  that  beautifies,  en- 
nobles, and  spiritualizes  our  life  had  its  origin  in  the 


286 


Christian  Manliness . 


immeasurable  tides  of  love  that  perpetually  flow  in 
the  ocean  of  the  divine  nature.  Love  in  God,  like 
every  other  quality,  has  a grandeur,  a scope,  a 
power,  far  beyond  the  measure  of  our  thought.  He 
is  infinite;  so  is  his  love,  so  is  his  justice,  so  is  his 
wisdom,  so  is  his  holiness. 

In  this  infinite  and  almighty  love  of  God,  resides 
the  sure  hope  of  immortality.  Human  love  seeks 
the  highest  welfare  of  its  objects.  The  purer,  the 
holier,  the  more  unselfish  a mother’s  love,  the  more 
hopefully,  patientlv  and  continuously  does  she  seek 
the  highest  good  of  her  children.  Love  in  man  is 
imperfect ; in  God  it  is  perfect.  In  man  it  is  nar- 
row ; in  God  it  is  boundless.  In  man  it  is  often 
unwise  and  capricious;  in  God  it  is  always  just  and 
wise.  If  an  intelligent  and  pure  human  love  seeks 
the  highest  welfare  of  the  beloved  object,  will  not 
the  infinitely  pure  and  intelligent  love  of  God  seek 
the  highest  welfare  of  his  children?  What  is  our 
highest  welfare  : extinction,  or  immortal  life  ? There 
is  but  one  answer  to  that  question.  The  highest 
welfare  of  man  demands  immortality;  another  and 
a higher  sphere  of  being,  in  which  all  his  facul- 
ties shall  have  a full  fruition  and  a perfect  culture. 
If  the  strong  and  unwasting  love  of  God  is  not  a 
dream  and  a fiction,  the  soul  shall  have  such  a 
destiny. 

Let  us  bring  these  separate  lights  together,  and 
behold  how  doubt,  and  fear,  and  darkness  flee 
away.  The  reasonableness  of  the  Christian  doc- 
trine of  a future  life  is  seen  in  the  light  of  the  two 


The  Reasonableness  of  Immortality . 287 

scientific  doctrines  of  the  indestructibility  of  mat- 
ter and  the  conservation  of  energy;  for  if  matter 
and  force  be  imperishable,  why  not  mind?  It  is 
seen  in  the  luminous  and  creative  hours  of  intel- 
lectual and  moral  life,  hours  in  which  the  soul 
seems  to  take  wings  and  fly  far  above  the  noise,  and 
strife,  and  tumult  of  time;  it  is  seen  in  the  pro- 
phetic intimations  of  conscience,  pointing  onward 
to  a future  state  of  righteous  retribution  ; it  is  seen 
in  the  universality  of  the  belief  in  a future  life 
among  both  civilized  and  savage  men,  in  ancient 
and  modern  times;  it  is  seen  in  the  longings  of  the 
noblest  natures  after  a more  congenial  culture  and 
a more  consummate  perfection  ; it  is  seen  in  the  in- 
creased fervor  with  which  men  desire  immortality 
as  they  become  more  highly  and  finely  developed  ; 
it  is  seen  in  the  satisfaction  and  certainty  with 
which  the  soul  regards  a future  life  in  its  purest, 
most  unselfish,  and  most  unworldly  hours  ; it  is  seen 
in  the  glory,  and  magnificence,  and  spirituality  of 
the  attributes  of  man’s  nature;  above  all,  it  is  seen 
in  the  infinite  love  of  the  intelligent  Author  of  the 
universe — a love  strong,  wise,  and  patient  enough  to 
rescue  us  from  extinction  not  only,  but  to  enthrone 
us  with  the  principalities,  and  powers,  and  domin- 
ions of  the  heavenly  places. 

Ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  when  spending  a sum- 
mer in  the  mountains  of  West  Virginia,  I enjoyed, 
in  company  with  a warmly  appreciative  friend, 
since  a devoted  missionary  of  our  Church  in  India, 
the  most  glorious  sunset  of  my  life.  One  moment 


288 


Christian  Manliness . 


the  light,  fleecy,  snow-like  clouds  seemed  to  be  rest-’ 
ing  on  the  tops  of  the  trees  on  the  distant  mount- 
ains, and  then  again  they  were  all  aflame  with  the 
reflected  glories  of  the  fast-sinking  sun,  shining  like 
a ball  of  burnished  gold,  fresh  from  the  hand  of 
God.  As  we  stood  there  together,  silently  drinking 
in  the  solemn  inspiration  of  the  scene,  the  sun  went 
down,  but  not  out . Its  light  dawned  upon  another 
hemisphere.  Our  horizon  was  necessarily  a narrow, 
circumscribed  one,  and  hence  it  seemed  to  us  as 
though  it  had  disappeared  forever.  As  God  and 
the  angels  saw  it,  it  poured  its  grateful  flood  of 
light  and  heat  on  the  other  half  of  the  globe.  It 
was  night  with  us  ; it  was  day-dawn  with  them. 
So  is  it  with  the  pure  souls  we  have  loved.  There 
is  sometimes  a solemn  beauty  in  their  dying,  which 
may  be  likened  to  the  lingering  glories  of  the  set- 
ting sun.  Owing  to  our  narrow  intellectual  and 
moral  horizon,  it  may  appear  to  us  that  the  light 
and  love  of  these  souls  have  been  quenched  forever. 
Not  so.  They  just  begin  to  live.  It  is  night  with 
us ; it  is  day-dawn  with  them.  They  rise  into  the 
Eternal  Presence,  they  rejoice  in  the  beatific  vision, 
they  are  enfranchised  forever  with  all  the  dignities, 
privileges,  and  immunities  of  the  skies. 

“There  are  no  dead. 

'Tis  true,  many  of  them  are  gone  ; 

Singly  they  came,  singly  they  departed; 

When  their  work  was  done,  they  lay  down  to  sleep — 

But  never  one  hath  died ; 

Forms  may  change,  but  spirit  is  immortal/' 


The  Christian  Heaven. 


289 


THE  CHRISTIAN  HEAVEN. 

And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes  ; and  there 
shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall 
there  be  any  more  pain  ; for  the  former  things  are  passed  away. — 
Rev.  21.24. 

And  there  shall  be  no  more  curse:  but  the  throne  of  God  and 
of  the  Lamb  shall  be  in  it.;  and  his  servants  shall  serve  him*  and 
they  shall  see  his  face  ; and  his  name  shall  be  in  their  foreheads. — 
Rev.  22.  3,  4. 

Next  to  the  great  truth  of  the  existence  of  God, 
and  the  moral  character  of  God,  the  fundamental 
and  far-reaching  teaching  of  the  Christian  religion 
is  that  there  is  a future  immortal  life  for  holy  souls. 
In  all  its  generations,  in  all  its  struggles,  in  all  its 
sins,  and  in  all  its  sorrows,  the  human  race  has  been 
supported  and  directed  by  the  vast,  solemn,  glowing 
hope  that  goodness  and  purity,  love  and  duty,  are 
not  born  to  die ; that  they  shall  survive  the  dreaded 
catastrophe  of  death,  and  emerge  in  great  power 
and  splendor  in  the  eternal  world.  As  from  the 
overhanging  clouds  come  the  grateful  showers  that 
refresh  and  revive  the  parched  earth,  so  from  this 
hope,  of  a supreme,  ample,  and  perfect  life  beyond, 
come  all  the  glorious  influences  and  inspirations 
that  quicken  and  strengthen  men  amid  the  wastes 
and  losses,  the  pain  and  struggles,  of  the  life  that 
now  is.  One  of  the  soul’s  native  and  ineradicable 
beliefs  is  that  “ earth  has  no  sorrow  that  heaven 


290 


Christian  Manliness . 


cannot  heal.”  We  feel  instinctively  that  under  the 
reign  of  a perfectly  righteous  God,  to  whose  power 
there  are  no  ascertainable  limits,  justice  must  finally 
be  done.  We  know  that  justice  is  not  always  com- 
pletely done  so  far  as  the  experiences,  purposes, 
and  issues  of  this  present  life  are  concerned  ; and  to 
a moral  mind  the  conclusion  is  short,  sharp,  and 
irresistible,  that  there  is  another  and  higher  life 
where  the  ways  of  God  will  be  manifested  as  the 
ways  of  love,  equity,  and  truth. 

This  expectation  of  heaven  has  been  universal. 
The  poor  Indian,  whose  mind  had  not  been  tutored 
by  science  or  literature,  aspired  to  a humble  heaven 
where  his  faithful  dog  should  bear  him  company. 
The  ancient  Greek  had  his  fair  Elysian  fields  and 
his  bright  islands  of  the  blest.  The  rude  Scan- 
dinavian dreamed  of  a green  paradise  amid  the 
wastes.  The  mystic  and  contemplative  Hindoo 
yearns  after  the  deep  peace  and  unbroken  rest  of 
the  Nirvana.  All  nations  have  pictured  to  them- 
selves beyond  the  grave,  according  to  the  order  of 
their  own  genius,  some 

“ Island  valley  of  Avilion, 

Where  falls  not  hail  or  rain,  or  any  snow, 

Nor  ever  wind  blows  loudly.” 

The  text  suggests  for  our  theme  the  Christian 
heaven.  First,  the  Christian  revelation  of  heaven 
is  remarkable  for  its  silent  suggestiveness,  its  wise 
reticence,  its  noble  concealment  and  reserve.  “ It 
doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,”  ought  to  be 
the  motto  of  all  who  seek  to  study  and  understand 


The  Christian  Heaven . 


291 


the  really  Christian  revelation  of  heaven.  What 
we  are  not  taught  in  the  Scriptures  concerning  the 
life  of  the  blessed  hereafter  is  quite  as  significant, 
quite  as  luring  to  the  imagination,  and  quite  as 
prophetic  to  the  soul,  as  what  is  made  known  to 
us.  Many  questions  may  be  started  about  heaven 
to  which  the  Scriptures  furnish  no  clear,  decisive, 
or  adequate  reply.  Where  is  heaven  ? And  there 
is  no  answer  in  the  Bible  of  the  Christian.  What 
is  heaven  ? And  there  is  no  answer.  What  organ- 
izations, if  any,  do  spirits  have?  And  there  is  no 
definite  answer.  What  are  the  employments,  the 
disciplines,  the  studies,  the  activities,  the  various 
spiritual  gymnasia  of  heaven  ? There  is  no  answer. 
What  is  the  mode  of  the  life  of  departed  spirits? 
What  means  of  locomotion  are  theirs?  How  do 
they  acquire  knowledge?  By  observation,  percep- 
tion, study,  reflection,  and  reasoning,  or  by  the 
quick  flash  of  unerring  intuition,  by  swift,  piercing 
insight?  Are  the  relationships  of  earth  carried  on 
beyond?  What  is  the  meaning  of  such  words  as 
these:  “ In  heaven  they  neither  marry  nor  are  given 
in  marriage,  but  all  are  as  the  angels  of  God?” 
Does  the  child  remain  a child  ? And  many  a mother 
yearns  for  an  answer.  Do  varieties  of  temperament 
still  obtain  ? Is  truth  over  yonder  cut  into  so  many 
regulation  blocks,  all  alike,  or  is  it  as  we  find  it 
here,  touched,  colored,  modified,  by  various  experi- 
ences, temperaments,  and  dispositions?  These  and 
many  like  questions  are  unanswered  in  the  Chris- 
tian revelation  of  heaven.  Much  is  told  us,  but 


292 


Christian  Manliness . 


much  is  left  for  the  free  play  of  our  faculty,  for  the 
wistful  yearning  of  the  imagination  ; much  is  left 
for  the  joyous  surprise  of  actual  discovery  when  we 
enter  upon  its  high  and  glorious  fiuitions. 

We  will  each  one  of  Us  find  something  in 
heaven  which  we  do  not  expect.  There  is  that 
about  the  disclosure  of  heaven  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment which  we  find  in  the  character  of  some  men 
and  women— namely,  a noble  reticence,  a quiet,  sig- 
nificant, attractive  reserve.  I do  not  like  people 
that  are  shallow ; I do  not  like  people  who  are  as  shal- 
low as  meadow  pools  that  children  can  bale  out  in  an 
afternoon  at  play;  I do  not  like  people  who,  after 
you  have  seen  them  two  or  three  times,  you  know 
all  there  is  to  them  and  in  them,  and  you  can  tell 
precisely  what  kind  of  a life  they  have  lived.  I like 
to  meet  men  and  women  that  are  deep  and  reticent, 
and  are  always  suggesting  to  me  how  great  they 
might  be  under  other  circumstances;  how  they 
would  suffer  and  be  strong,  what  they  might  do  in 
emergencies,  and  through  what  emergencies  they 
may  have  passed,  I like  to  meet  people  that  are 
reserved  occasionally.  And  I am  glad  that  there  is 
enough  in  heaven  to  perpetually  lure  us,  and  draw  us 
forth,  and  charm  us.  Such  reticences  never  cease  to 
interest  us,  we  are  perpetually  drawn  toward  them. 

It  is  better  for  us,  doubtless,  that  heaven  is  thus 
left  surrounded  by  a tender  and  vague  mystery.  If 
a full  and  immediate  revelation  were  made  to  us,  I 
have  no  doubt  that  we  would  become  dissatisfied 
with  our  present  world  and  life,  and  our  present 


The  Christian  Heaven . 


293 


mode  of  discipline.  We  would  abandon,  or,  at 
least,  neglect,  the  work  God  lias  given  us  to  do. 
The  effect  on  children  of  the  anticipation  of  some 
great  joy  varies.  Have  you  ever  studied  it?  Have 
you  ever  opened  out  the  contents  of  a joy  to  the 
child?  If  you  fix  a day  for  it,  it  will  not  study 
much  ; it  likes  to  count  up  the  time  ; it  enjoys  wait- 
ing and  seeing  how  long  it  will  be,  and  running  and 
asking  questions;  but  it  does  not  study  much.  But 
you  leave  it  vague,  indefinite,  undefined  ; you  tell  a 
child  that  if  it  studies  well,  some  great,  rich  joy 
will  be  given  it,  and  never  tell  what  the  contents  of 
that  joy  are,  or  when  the  day  will  come  that  shall 
unfold  it,  and  it  will  study.  So  is  it  with  us;  if  all 
the  contents  of  heaven  should  be  revealed  to  us  we 
would  be  very  listless,  we  would  be  asking  questions 
all  the  time,  we  would  neglect  the  work  we  are  now 
given  to  do,  we  would  be  always  wishing  for  that 
higher  life  to  be  given  us,  for  I take  it  that,  as  God 
and  the  angels  see  us,  we  are  about  as  foolish  a 
family  of  children  as  could  well  be  imagined. 

As  it  is,  ample  room  is  left  for  the  free  exercise 
of  the  imagination  and  of  the  affections.  More 
than  that : the  canvas  is  furnished  us ; the  pigment, 
the  palette,  and  the  brush  are  given  us,  and  we  can 
paint  each  his  own  picture  of  that  fair  and  radiant 
world,  always  remembering  that  the  reality  will  far 
surpass  our  noblest  hopes,  our  most  delicate  fancies, 
our  finest  conceptions,  our  most  gorgeous  creations. 
When  once  we  see  heaven,  we  will  be  willing  that 
all  our  pictures  of  heaven  shall  fade  and  die. 


294 


Christian  Manliness . 


Second,  Heaven,  as  it  is  disclosed  to  us  in  the 
word  of  God,  is  free  from  all  elements  and  sources 
of  disturbance,  disquiet,  pain,  struggle,  and  sin. 

This  life  is  a life  of  growth,  a life  of  development 
by  growth,  and,  therefore,  necessarily  a life  of  dis- 
turbance, of  disquietude,  of  imperfections,  of  pain- 
bearing elements.  All  these  are  excluded  from 
heaven.  Did  you  ever  take  your  Bible,  especially 
the  New  Testament,  and  try  to  think  about  heaven, 
and  find  out  how  many  “ nos  ” and  “ nots  ” are  used 
to  describe  it?  There  are  a great  many  of  them. 
There  shall  be  “ no  night  in  heaven ;”  there  shall 
be  “ no  sun  or  moon  ; ” there  shall  be  “ no  more 
curse;”  there  shall  be  “ no  abominations;”  there 
shall  be  “ no  more  hunger  or  thirst ; ” there  shall 
be  “ no  sorrow  ; ” there  shall  be  no  crying  ; ” there 
shall  be  “ no  more  pain  ; ” there  shall  be  “ no  more 
death.”  “ The  former  things  are  all  passed  away.” 

Consider  now  some  of  the  disturbing  elements 
that  will  be  absent  from  the  heavenly  life.  All  that 
we  mean  by  ignorance — and  we  mean  a great  deal 
by  it — will  not  be  in  heaven.  There  will  be  growth, 
elevation,  development  there,  but  no  ignorance  that 
costs,  no  ignorance  that  wastes.  There  will  be  no 
poverty  there.  Disease — alas ! what  disturbances 
and  inquietude  that  causes  here  ; pain — that  vast, 
undiscovered  mystery  ; sorrow  of  the  heart — how 
much  there  is  of  it  in  this  world  ; suffering  of  the 
mind,  struggle,  loneliness,  temptation,  and,  waiting 
for  us  all,  yonder  in  ambush,  death  ! Now,  if  all 
these  elements  of  evil,  all  these  elements  of  pain, 


The  Christian  Heaven . 295 

all  these  elements  of  perturbation  were  taken  out 
of  this  world,  what  a different  world  it  would  be  ! 

I see  I wrote  here  in  pencil,  in  looking  over  these 
notes  before  coming  in,  “ What  a glorious  world  it 
would  be  with  no  ignorance,  no  poverty,  no  disease, 
no  pain,  no  sorrow  of  heart,  no  suffering  of  the  t 
mind,  no  temptation,  no  death  ! ” This  is  a radi- 
antly beautiful  world  God  has  made  for  us,  my 
friends.  What  skies  there  are  over  our  heads  ; what 
glorious  star-lit  nights;  what  green  fields  are  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  ; what  mighty  seas;  what  fragrant 
flowers ; what  singing  birds ! O what  a world 
this  would  be  without  ignorance,  or  poverty,  or  dis- 
ease, or  pain,  or  temptation,  or  heart-sorrow,  or 
mind-anguish,  or  the  chilling  dread  of  death  ! Do 
we  realize  all  that  is  involved  in  a life  free  from 
these  elements?  Have  you  ever,  weary  of  strife, 
discouraged  with  yourself,  discouraged  with  others, 
— have  you  ever  closed  your  eyes  and  repeated  over 
and  over  again,  until  sweet  peace  came,  these  words  : 

“ For  the  former  things  are  passed  away,  for  the 
former  things  are  passed  away,  for  the  former  things 
are  passed  away?"  # 

The  revealed  positive  elements  of  the  heavenly 
life  combine  to  make  it  eminently  spiritual,  rational, 
and  attractive,  and  to  crown  it  with  ineffable  honor 
and  glory.  Purity  is  the  first  distinctive  heritage 
of  those  who  enter  this  heavenly  life.  The  purity 
of  heaven  may  be  described  in  two  ways  : First, 
negatively.  So  it  is  described  to  us  in  the  word 
of  God  : “ There  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  any 


2g6  Christian  Manliness . 

thing  that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever  worketh 
abomination  or  maketh  a lie  ! ” But  there  is  an- 
other short  sentence,  very  significant : “ Without  are 
dogs.”  Have  you  ever  read  an  Oriental  traveler’s 
account  of  what  this  sentence  means  ; of  how  many 
dogs  they  have  in  these  crowded  cities  of  the  Orient, 
and  of  how,  for  safety  and  cleanliness  and  health, 
at  night  all  the  dogs  are  left  outside  of  the  gate  of 
the  city?  “ Without  are  dogs.”  But  it  is  given  to 
us  positively  : “ After  this  I beheld,  and,  lo,  a great 
multitude,  which  no  man  could  number,  of  all  na- 
tions, and  kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues,  stood 
before  the  throne,  and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed 
with  white  robes,  and  palms  in  their  hands  ; and 
cried  with  a loud  voice,  saying,  Salvation  to  our 
God  which  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the 
Lamb.”  We  know  little  of  purity  here,  little  either 
of  its  real  nature,  or  of  its  perfection,  or  of  its  power, 
or  of  its  final  fruits,  but  we  know  enough  to  know 
that  purity  is  heaven.  There  we  shall  be  pure  with- 
out fault,  without  spot,  without  pain,  and,  what  is 
better,  without  peril.  It  is  a fine  and  a deep  saying 
of  Confucius,  the  Chinese  sage,  that  “ Heaven  means 
principle.” 

Another  positive  element  in  the  life  of  heaven  is 
triumphant  joy  in  worship.  We  read  often  in  the 
Revelation  of  John  of  great  voices  in  heaven,  and 
never  are  they  so  great  or  so  many  as  when  the 
joys  of  the  redeemed  are  described.  “ And  a voice 
came  out  of  the  throne,  saying,  Praise  our  God,  all 
ye  his  servants,  and  ye  that  fear  him,  both  small 


The  Christian  Heaven . 


2 97 


and  great.  And  I heard  as  it  were  the  voice  of  a 
great  multitude,  and  as  the  voice  of  many  waters, 
and  as  the  voice  of  mighty  thunderings,  saying, 
Alleluia:  for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth." 
I take  it  that  they  must  have  something  like  con- 
gregational singing  in  heaven ! In  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  Revelation,  second  and  third  verses,  we 
read  as  follows  : “ And  I saw  as  it  were  a sea  of 
glass  mingled  with  fire : and  them  that  had  gotten 
the  victory  over  the  beast,  and  over  his  image, 
and  over  his  mark,  and  over  the  number  of  his 
name,  stand  on  the  sea  of  glass,  having  the  harps  of 
God.  And  they  sing  the  song  of  Moses  the  serv- 
ant of  God,  and  the  song  of  the  Lamb,  saying,  Great 
and  marvelous  are  thy  works,  Lord  God  Almighty; 
just  and  true  are  thy  ways,  thou  King  of  saints/’ 
And  here  is  the  most  magnificent  description  of 
singing,  or  joy  in  worship  in  heaven,  to  be  found 
.within  the  lids  of  the  great  book:  “ And  I beheld, 

and,  lo,  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  and  of  the  four 
beasts,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  elders,  stood  a Lamb 
as  it  had  been  slain,  having  seven  horns  and  seven 
eyes,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  sent  forth 
into  all  the  earth.  And  he  came  and  took  the  book 
out  of  the  right  hand  of  him  that  sat  upon  the  throne. 
And  when  he  had  taken  the  book,  the  four  beasts 
and  four  and  twenty  elders  fell  down  before  the 
Lamb,  having  every  one  of  them  harps,  and  golden 
vials  full  of  odor,  which  are  the  prayers  of  saints. 
And  they  sung  a new  song,  saying,  Thou  art  worthy 
to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof: 


298 


Christian  Manliness . 


for  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God 
by  thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and 
people,  and  nation  ; and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God 
kings  and  priests  : and  we  shall  reign  on  the  earth. 
And  I beheld,  and  I heard  the  voice  of  many  angels 
round  about  the  throne,  and  the  beasts,  and  the  eld- 
ers : and  the  number  of  them  was  ten  thousand  times 
ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands;  saying 
with  a loud  voice,  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was 
slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and 
strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing.  And 
every  creature  which  is  in  heaven,  and  on  the  earth, 
and  under  the  earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea,  and 
all  that  are  in  them,  heard  I saying,  Blessing,  and 
honor,  and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  him  that  sit- 
teth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  forever 
and  forever.” 

These  are  mere  glimpses,  intimations,  tokens, 
poetic  symbols  of  heaven,  but  they  are  such  glow- 
ing poetic  symbols  of  heaven  as  would  have  de- 
lighted the  imaginations  of  Shakespeare  or  of  Milton. 
They  describe  the  mighty  joy  of  the  redeemed, 
enfranchised,  empowered  and  worshiping  spirits  of 
heaven.  We  were  made  for  joy.  We  were  made 
for  the  highest  joy,  and  the  highest  joy  springs  from 
the  spontaneous  exercise  of  our  highest  faculties. 
The  keen  delight  and  rapture  that  we  feel  in  the 
presence  of  something  great,  vast,  sublime,  is,  I sup- 
pose, nearly  akin  to  the  feeling  that  we  must  have  in 
heaven,  not  once,  but  perpetually.  Jean  Paul 
Richter  says  that  it  is  the  office  of  music  to  dilate 


The  Christian  Heaven . 299 

our  souls  to  their  full  capacity  for  the  infinite.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  first  time  I saw  the  sea,  lands- 
man as  1 was;  being  brought  up  in  a portion  of  the 
country  where  they  even  did  not  have  a river. 
When  in  July,  18 77,  about  seven  o’clock  in  the  even- 
ing, I gazed  for  the  first  time  upon  the  waste  of 
waters  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts,  my  heart  was 
dilated  to  its  full  capacity  for  the  infinite.  I almost 
forgot  the  house  to  which  I was  going,  and  I was 
indifferent  to  whether  I ever  reached  it.  I did  not 
sleep  at  all  that  night.  I am  glad  I did  not ; I am 
glad  I was  young  enough,  foolish  enough,  enthusi- 
astic enough,  sentimental  enough,  to  lie  awake  all 
night  and  listen  to  the  moan  and  murmur  of  the 
mighty  sea.  I am  glad  that  I hunted  all  the  poets 
through,  and  re-read  with  a fresh  joy  all  they  had 
ever  said  about  the  sea.  I am  glad  that  I seemed 
almost  to  have  no  special  use  for  the  gross  earth  for 
a day  or  two.  I never  stepped  more  light  and  free. 
I take  it  that  there  are  oceans  and  mountains,  or 
those  things  which  in  our  growth  will  fulfill  the  func- 
tions or  offices  of  oceans,  and  mountains,  and  Niag- 
aras, in  heaven.  If  God  could  make  a few  on  this 
earth,  for  our  present  growth  and  joy,  he  can  make 
a great  many  for  our  everlasting  growth  in  heaven. 

The  life  of  heaven  is  dignified  by  noble  and  ex- 
alted service.  The  heavenly  life  is  not  to  be  one  of 
inglorious  ease  or  of  rapt  contemplation.  We  know 
not  the  nature  or  the  manifoldness  of  the  activities 
01  the  upper  world,  but  we  do  know  that  high  and 

holy  service  shall  be  appointed  us.  “ Therefore  are 
20 


JOO 


Christian  Manliness . 


they  before  the  throne,  and  serve  him  day  and  night 
in  his  temple  ; and  he  that  sitteth  on  the  throne 
shall  dwell  among  them/’  44  And  there  shall  be  no 
more  curse,  but  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb 
shall  be  in  it,  and  his  servants  shall  serve  him/’ 
These  passages  teach  that  we  are  to  have  work  in 
heaven  ; that  we  are  not  to  be  aristocratic  loung- 
ers there,  like  the  sons  of  an  entailed  nobility.  They 
are  mistaken  who  suppose  that  the  heavenly  world 
is  one  of  idle  dreaminess  and  delicious  languor. 
This  work  is  to  be  unselfish.  You  know  here  we 
all  work  centripetally  ; we  like  to  work  so  as  to  have 
every  thing  run  toward  ourselves.  There  the  Book 
says  we  shall  serve  Him.  The  blessedness  of  all 
work  is  to  be  found  in  the  extinction  of  self.  Our 
work  there  is  to  be  done  amid  associations  and  sur- 
roundings of  the  highest  order  and  of  the  noblest 
character.  44  Before  the  throne;”  44  In  his  temple;” 
44  He  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall  dwell  among 
them.”  This  work  is  to  be  constant,  tireless,  and 
unfatiguing.  44  They  serve  him  day  and  night ;” 
44  There  is  no  night  there.”  They  never  need  to 
rest,  and  that  is  the  reason  they  have  no  night. 
Here  we  become  weary,  fatigued,  exhausted.  We 
need  to  go  in  the  repair  shop  at  least  eight  hours 
out  of  every  twenty-four.  Here  we  mix  foreign 
and  corrosive  elements  with  our  work,  as  fear,  envy, 
ambition,  worry,  anxiety,  apprehensiveness.  We 
never  do  our  best  work  when  we  are  depressed  by 
fear,  cankered  with  anxiety,  corroded  by  envy,  nar- 
rowed or  dwarfed  with  the  secular  and  worldly 


The  Christian  Heaven . 301 

spirit.  We  do  our  best  work  when  we  are  free  from 
all  these  things.  Have  you  ever  gone  into  a great 
machine  shop,  with  a handful  of  small  steel  filings, 
and  when  not  observed  dropped  a few  of  them  on 
any  wheel  ? If  so,  no  matter  how  large  the  wheel, 
or  how  rapid  in  its  revolution,  there  was  a creaking, 
gritting,  grating  sound,  that  betokened  a sharp  fric- 
tion, no  matter  how  small  the  particles  may  have 
been.  There  will  be  no  steel  filings  on  the  wheels 
of  our  industry  over  there  ! We  will  work  without 
fear ; we  will  work  without  envy  ; we  will  work 
without  anxiety;  we  will  work  without  fretting ; we 
will  work  without  malice ; we  will  work  without 
wishing  to  push  out  and  crowd  down  the  man  who 
stands  next  to  us  in  the  ranks  of  life. 

The  crowning  glory  of  heaven  is  the  open  vision 
of  God.  All  Scripture  teaching  concerning  the  future 
life  takes  its  prevailing  color,  is  toned  and  deter- 
mined by  the  thought  that  at  last  we  shall  see  God. 
Job  comforts  and  strengthens  himself  by  this 
thought  amid  the  darkness  and  pain  and  suffering 
of  which  he  was  the  struggling  and  bewildered  vic- 
tim: “ Whom  I shall  see  for  myself,  and  mine  eyes 
shall  behold,  and  not  another.”  So  the  Psalmist : 
“ As  for  me,  I will  behold  thy  face  in  righteousness : 
I will  be  satisfied  when  I awake  in  thy  likeness.” 
The  prophet  Isaiah,  in  speaking  of  the  secure  and 
satisfying  heritage  of  the  righteous,  says  that  “ bread 
shall  be  given  him  ; his  waters  shall  be  sure.  Thine 
eyes  shall  see  the  King  in  his  beauty:  they  shall 
behold  the  land  that  is  very  far  off.”  “ And  they 


302 


Christian  Manliness . 


shall  see  his  face,  and  his  name  shall  be  in  their 
foreheads.” 

The  yearning  to  see  God,  the  longing  and  pas- 
sionate desire  to  behold  the  face  of  our  Father,  is 
the  deepest  and  strongest  and  most  abiding  of  hu- 
man hearts  and  human  lives.  “ O Lord,  I beseech 
thee,  show  me  thy  glory, "was  the  passionate  prayer 
of  Moses.  “Whom  have  I in  heaven  but  thee? 
and  there  is  none  on  earth  whom  I desire  beside 
thee."  “ As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water- 
brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  O God. 
My  soul  thirsteth  for  God,  for  the  living  God: 
when  shall  I come  and  appear  before  God  ? " So 
Job  cried  in  the  midst  of  his  utter  desolation  and 
sharp  agony:  “O  that  I knew  where  I might  find 
him ! that  I might  come  even  to  his  seat  ! I would 
order  my  cause  before  him,  and  fill  my  mouth  with 
arguments." 

This  is  the  crown  and  summit  of  heaven’s  glory: 
that  we  shall  see  his  face,  and  that  his  name  shall 
be  written  in  our  foreheads.  Whatever  we  seek, 
yjp  shall  find  it  all  in  God — knowledge,  forgiveness, 
purity,  light,  love,  inspiration,  and  work. 

My  friends,  the  years  do  not  lag;  they  are  not 
heavy-footed  ; they  are  hurrying  us  onward,  home- 
ward, and  heavei^ward.  God  is  surely  bringing  us 
to  himself,  though  not  by  paths  of  our  own  order- 
ing, not  by  ways  of  our  own  choosing.  Sometimes 
by  the  radiant,  glorious,  sun-lit  mount  ; sometimes 
by  the  damp,  chill,  mist-covered  valley;  sometimes 
by  flowery  vales  and  green  fields,  amid  the  babbling 


The  Christian  Heaven . 


303 


of  cooling  water-brooks;  sometimes  in  a dry  and 
thirsty  land  where  no  water  is ; but  still  it  is  not 
the  hand  of  a stranger,  it  is  our  Father’s  hand  that 
leads  us  home.  We  walk  with  doubting,  uncertain, 
unsteady  feet,  we  slip  and  fall,  we  wander  from  the 
way,  and  are  like  lost  sheep  upon  the  mountains  ; we 
sin,  and  suffer,  and  repent,  and  sin  again.  “ Mercy 
would  long  ago  have  been  wearied  out  if  mercy 
were  a human  thing,*’  but  still  we  hope  and  still  we 
are  safe,  because  the  eternal  God  is  our  refuge,  and 
underneath  us  are  the  everlasting  arms. 

“ My  feet  are  worn  and  weary  with  the  march 
Over  the  rough  road  and  up  the  steep  hill-side  ; 

O city  of  our  God,  I fain  would  see 

Thy  pastures  green,  where  peaceful  waters  glide! 

“ My  eyes  are  weary  looking  at  the  sin, 

Impiety,  and  scorn  upon  the  earth  ; 

O city  of  our  God,  within  thy  walls 

All — all  are  clothed  again  with  thy  new  birth. 

44  My  heart  is  weary  of  its  own  deep  sin — 

Sinning,  repenting,  sinning  still  again  ; 

When  shall  my  soul  thy  glorious  presence  feel, 

And  find,  dear  Saviour,  it  is  free  from  stain  ? 

44  Patience,  poor  soul ! the  Saviour’s  feet  were  worn. 

The  Saviour’s  heart  and  head  were  weary  too; 

His  garments  stained  and  travel-worn  and  old, 

His  vision  blinded  with  a pitying  dew. 

44  Love  thou  the  path  of  sorrows  that  he  trod  ; 

Toil  on,  and  wait  in  patience  for  thy  rest ; 

O city  of  our  God  ! we  soon  shall  see 

Thy  glorious  walls — home  of  the  loved  and  blest.'* 


THE  END. 


DESIRABLE  BOOKS 

BY  THE 

Rev.  John  M.  Bam  ford. 


FATHER  FERVENT. 

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ing to  keep  alive  the  religious  zeal  of  their  fellow  members.  The  story  vras 
written  for  English  readers,  whose  system  of  church  work  is  slightly  different 
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Comes  before  us  with  delightful  freshness.— Methodist  Times . 


JOHN  CONSCIENCE,  OF  KINGSEAL. 

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Fresh  and  bracing.  . . . One  of  the  best  books  that  could  be  placed  in  the 
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ELIAS  POWER,  OF  EASE-IN-ZION. 

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DANIEL  QUORM  AND  HIS  RELIGIOUS 
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